WIC Participant Diaries and IDIs

OMB CONTROL NO.: 0584-0611

EXPIRATION DATE: 11/30/2025

Primary Research – Qualitative Shopping Diaries Task List

OMB BURDEN STATEMENT: This information is being collected to assist the Food and Nutrition Service in improving the shopping experience for WIC participants. This is a voluntary collection and FNS will use the information to meet the needs and understand the challenges of current program participants. This collection does not request any personally identifiable information under the Privacy Act of 1974. According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is 0584-0611. The time required to complete this information collection is estimated to average 60 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service, Office of Policy Support, 1320 Braddock Place, 5th Floor, Alexandria, VA 22306 ATTN: PRA (0584-0611). Do not return the completed form to this address.

1. Introduction

This section is meant to give context and instruction for the rest of the diary entries. Participants will be able to access these questions through any browser on any smartphone with internet. There will be a Spanish-speaking moderator for the LEP participants.

Task list introduction:

THANK YOU for agreeing to participate in our study on WIC shopping! Allow me to introduce myself, my name is [INSERT MODERATOR NAME] and I will be the moderator for this study -- It’s nice to meet you! As part of this study, we want you to grocery shop for WIC foods just like you would in a typical week. We are simply asking that you share your shopping experiences with us through the questions that we pose in this diary. The diary is going to include three sections related to a grocery shopping trip where you use your WIC benefits: Pre-shop diary: About getting your WIC food benefit and all the things you do before you go shopping. Shopping diary: About a WIC shopping trip, including how you typically shop and what happens during your trip. Post-shop diary: After your WIC shopping trip reflecting on how it went and what could have made shopping easier for you. You will need to complete the three diary sections in order (1. Pre-shop, 2. Shopping, and 3. Post-shop), and the next section will unlock only after you have completed the previous one. Be sure to read through all the activities within the section before you start so you are clear what questions to answer. You can access the activities through the web browser on your smartphone anywhere that you have internet access. Your posts will only be viewed by researchers directly involved in this study. We recommend you do a separate video for each task to avoid long upload times. You will need to complete ALL the activities to qualify for the $50 incentive and to be eligible for a follow-up interview which comes with an additional monetary incentive. Respondents will be selected for interviews based on the quality and thoroughness of their responses to these activities. These activities should take you approximately 45 minutes to complete before, during and after your normal grocery shopping. You do not need to take a special trip to the store, simply complete the activities around your next regular grocery shopping trip. If you have any technical difficulty with these activities, please let us know by sending an email to [email protected] Looking forward to seeing you soon.

2. Background Task

This section is meant to gather some background information on each WIC participant.

Task Title	1. Background
Required Response	Text entry with optional picture upload
Task Prompt	The purpose of this task is to help us to get to know you a bit better. Please take a moment to answer the following questions so that we can get to know you a little One interesting fact about yourself Who is in your household, including how many children and their ages (but you do not need to give us their names) How long you have you been using WIC benefits What made you decide to apply for WIC If you use any apps related to WIC, please take a screenshot and upload a picture so that we can see what you use. You can take a screenshot of the homepage of the app or the tiles on your phone’s home screen, whatever you are most comfortable with.
Privacy	Private, only the respondent and researcher can see entry

3. Pre-Shop Diary

This begins the pre shopping diary section. Respondents will be able to complete these tasks in any order that they see fit.

Task Title	2. Receiving WIC Food Benefit
Required Response	Text and minimum of 1 photo upload
Task Prompt	Next, we want to learn about how you receive your WIC food benefits each month. In a few sentences please explain… Are you notified when your WIC balance is available for you to use? If so, how are you notified? Do you ever check your WIC balance before you go shopping? If so, how and why? If not, why not? Have your WIC food benefits ever expired before you expected them to? If yes, what did you do? How has receiving WIC food benefits impacted your life and/or your family? Take a photo of your WIC food benefit. This photo may be of a WIC shopper app, a receipt, a website, or any other place that you go to check your balance. If you cannot or do not check your balance, please explain in your text response.
Privacy	Private, only the respondent and researcher can see entry

Task Title	3. Shopping Preparation
Required Response	1 Video upload
Task Prompt	The purpose of this task is to help us understand what you do to get ready to go WIC shopping. Find a private place and when you are ready, record a 1-2 minute landscape video to explain what you do to plan your WIC shopping and why. In your video, include answers to questions like… What do you do to get ready to go shopping? Please be as detailed as you can about anything you might do (e.g., making lists, checking sales, selecting stores, finding childcare, finding recipes, etc.). Do you typically plan to shop for other items at this store besides your WIC items? Which ones and why? Do you use a WIC mobile app before going to the store? If so, what features do you use and why?
Privacy	Private, only the respondent and researcher can see entry

Task Title	4. Choosing a WIC Store
Required Response	1 Video upload
Task Prompt	Next, we want to know why you shop where you do for your WIC items. Find a private place and when you are ready, record a 1-2 minute, landscape video to explain how you choose the store(s) where you do your WIC shopping. In your video, please tell us about your decision in your own words. You might consider answering questions like… Do you do your WIC shopping at the same store or multiple stores? Why or why not? If you shop at multiple stores, please tell us which ones? How do you (or did you) decide at which store(s) to use your WIC benefits? How do you (or did you) find WIC approved stores? Have you had any difficulty with finding stores that accept WIC near you? What WIC approved stores are closest to you? How far are the closest stores? Do you shop at those stores? Why or why not?
Privacy	Private, only the respondent and researcher can see entry

4. Shopping Diary

This begins the shopping diary section. Respondents will be able to complete these tasks in any order that they see fit. They will have to complete every activity in this section.

Task Title	5. The WIC-Approved Store
Required Response	Minimum 1 Photo upload
Task Prompt	Take a photo of yourself in front of the store where you are going to do your WIC shopping and upload it. Please get the name of the store in the photo so we know which store you are shopping at.
Privacy	Private, only the respondent and researcher can see entry

Task Title	6. Finding Your WIC Food Items
Required Response	5 Video uploads
Task Prompt	We are excited for you to take us shopping in the store! Pretend that you are teaching a new WIC participant how to shop. Record at least 5 short videos while you are shopping to show us the ins and outs of how to do it. We are looking for things like… Where do you start? Why? How do you know if something is WIC approved (i.e., do you use shelf labels, your food list, and/or WIC shopping app to determine this)? Do you always buy the same WIC items? Why or why not? What is easy about WIC shopping? What is difficult? Which WIC foods, if any, are difficult to find in the store? Have you ever been unable to find an item you needed? If so, what? Do you use a WIC shopper app while you shop? Why or why not? If yes, what makes the app helpful (or not)? Do you use any other apps besides the WIC shopper app while you are in the store? Which ones? How? How easy or difficult is it to find someone at the store to help you with a WIC purchase? Where do you go to get help? Don’t worry about video length. The videos can be as long (or as short) as you need to share with us your experience. This is your chance to show us all about WIC shopping.
Privacy	Private, only the respondent and researcher can see entry

Task Title	7. Check out
Required Response	1 video upload
Task Prompt	You are almost finished! Before you leave the store, we want to know about checkout. Please send us a video telling us about your WIC check-out process. You do not have to video your actual checkout experience, but please tell us about it by explaining what happened and answering questions like… How was your check-out process today? Did you have any issues? If so, what happened? How did you check-out your WIC items at this store (i.e., were you rung up by a cashier, did you use self-checkout, or some other process)? Do you need to put your items in a particular order when checking out (i.e., WIC items first)? If you have had issues when checking out, how were they addressed by the cashier or other store personnel? Do the cashiers or store personnel seem knowledgeable about WIC? How did the cashiers or store personnel make you feel during your interaction? What about other shoppers around you?
Privacy	Private, only the respondent and researcher can see entry

1 😀	2 🙂	3 🙃	4 🥰	5 🥳
6 🤨	7 🤔	8 😕	9 🥴	10 😳
11 😢	12 😵‍💫	13 😵	14 🤬	15 😱

Task Title	8. Quick Shopping Assessment
Required Response	Select 1 and short answer text
Task Prompt	Before you get too far from the store, please select an emoji below that best reflects your feeling about your shopping trip and explain why you selected that one.
Privacy	Private, only the respondent and researcher can see entry

5. Post-Shop Diary

This begins the post- shopping diary section. Respondents will be able to complete these tasks in any order that they see fit. They will have to complete every activity in this section.

Task Title	8. WIC Shopping Evaluation
Required Response	1 Video upload
Task Prompt	Tell us how that WIC shopping trip went overall. Find a private place and when you are ready, record a 1-2 minute, landscape video talking about your WIC shopping trip. Include answers to questions like… Overall, how was this WIC shopping trip for you? Was this shopping trip like a typical WIC shopping trip for you? Why or why not? Where there any surprises during your trip? Is there anything you wish was easier about WIC shopping? How many WIC shopping trips do you typically take to use all your WIC benefits in one month?
Privacy	Private, only the respondent and researcher can see entry

Task Title	9. Your WIC Purchases
Required Response	1 Video upload
Task Prompt	Now, we’d like to see what you’ve purchased using your WIC benefit. When you get home, record a video showing us the WIC foods that you bought and why. Include answers to questions like… What made you select the WIC-approved foods you bought? Did you find all of the WIC foods you wanted on your shopping trip? Did you need to go to any other store to finish your WIC shopping? Did you have any issues finding a specific WIC food you wanted? If yes, what did you do? Did you purchase other non-WIC grocery or essential items at the store? If so, what? How do you plan to use the WIC products that you purchased? Do you have any favorite recipes that you want to share?
Privacy	Private, only the respondent and researcher can see entry

Task Title	10. WIC Shopping Overall
Required Response	1 Video upload
Task Prompt	The purpose of this task is to help us understand your overall experience with the WIC program. Find a private place and when you are ready, record a 1-2 minute, landscape video to explain what you think of your overall WIC shopping experiences. Include answers to questions like… How did you learn how to use your WIC food benefits? Did anyone or anything give you any instructions or tips? Which tips or tricks have been most helpful and why? What is the best part of WIC shopping? What is the worst part of WIC shopping? Have you ever had issues determining if something was WIC approved? Did you resolve the question, if so, how? Has WIC shopping gotten easier, more difficult or stayed the same since you first started? Why? If you could do one thing to improve WIC shopping for yourself and other participants like you, what would it be?
Privacy	Private, only the respondent and researcher can see entry