OMB Letter

Web Survey Design Standards Eye Tracking Research Submitted Under Generic Information Collection Request

Request: The Census Bureau plans to conduct research under the generic clearance for pretesting (OMB number 0607-0725). We will be conducting an eye tracking study. Participants will look at and interact with some of the screens developed using the Census Bureau DICE web survey guidelines. The study will occur from October through December 2023. Up to 40 participants will answer a 10-minute survey, which includes looking at different online screen designs.

Purpose: The purpose is to gather more data about the burden for different online screen designs. Burden here is defined by the eye movements. The more eye-fixations or inefficient gaze patterns, the more burdensome the design. Participants will see one design for each topic. Fixations and eye patterns will be compared across designs. The designs will evaluate:

• Order of the two-part sex-gender question series

  • Sex then gender

  • Gender then sex

• Text emphasis

  • Capitalization of emphasized text within a bolded question.

  • Bold and capitalization of emphasized text within an unbolded question.

  • Bolded question with no special emphasis used

  • Bold only of emphasized text within an unbolded question.

    • E.g., employment question series

• Use of radio buttons versus checkboxes

  • E.g., first employment question versions

• Race and Hispanic origin designs

  • Combined race and Hispanic origin with unfolding of details beneath each main response choice

  • Two-part combined question with race/ethnicity details asked in a separate question after the main response choice (but on the same page, which makes a very long scrollable page)

  • Two-part combined question with race/ethnicity details asked in a separate question after the main response choice (but on the next page)

• Two-part questions versus separate questions.

  • E.g., Race, Place of birth, education level, language study

• Text response entry differences

  • Color of response field and use of placeholder text

  • E.g., fictional name task

• Image designs

  • Help modals with different images in banner

  • FAQ with accordion design and plain banner

  • Login pages

  • Download and upload page

  • Dashboard

  • Summation design

  • Review screen

  • Grid design

Population of Interest: The planned research will focus on recruiting people over the age of 18 who might answer our surveys and censuses.

Timeline: The study will run from October through December 2023.

Language: Testing will be conducted in English only.

Method: We will conduct an in-person one-on-one study use an online Qualtrics survey to gather data. There will be no paper or telephone option. Sessions will be conducted in reserved library rooms in local libraries as the Census Bureau headquarters building is not accessible currently.

Sample: We will recruit up to 40 participants for this study and the study will be conducted in the metropolitan Washington DC area. We require a general population sample over 18 years old.

Recruitment: We will contact previous qualitative testing participants who live in the DC area and who are in our universal recruitment database. If necessary, we will send out a Bureau of the Census (BOC) Broadcast email for new participants who live in and around the DC area. Any new participants will be screened using the generic OMB-approved screener.

Consent: We will inform participants that their response is voluntary and that the information they provide is confidential and will be accessed only by employees involved in the research project.

Use of Incentive: The study will take no more than one hour and we will provide a $40 incentive for travel, parking, and childcare.

Below is a list of materials to be used in the current study.

1. Questionnaire for the online study (Enclosure 1)

2. BOC Broadcast message (Enclosure 2)

Length of interview: We estimate 1 hour for each session and 15 minutes to schedule participants.

The total estimated respondent burden for this request is 50 hours.

Table 1. Total Estimated Burden

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden
Recruiting	40	15 min	10 hours
Online general population sample	40	1 hour	40 hours
Total			50 hours

The contact person for questions regarding data collection and statistical aspects of the design of this research is listed below:

Elizabeth Nichols

Center for Behavioral Science Methods

U.S. Census Bureau

Washington, D.C. 20233

(301) 763-1724

[email protected]

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