Interface Design and Testing for Electronic Self Administered Survey

Forms using Excel

Authors: Emma Farrell, Kettie Hewett, Tracey Rowley, Leone Van Ede and Robert Burnside.

Presenter: Greg Griffiths Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Introduction

• Electronic Transactions Act (1999)- requirement to accommodate

businesses who insist on reporting electronically

• Excel spreadsheets adopted by ABS as most cost effective and viable short term option

• No standardization of spreadsheet instruments already then in use

Initial Usablility Testing

• In-house testing of Excel form for the Quarterly Economic Activity Survey using ABS staff & business data scenarios

• 24 subjects each given one version & opportunity to comment on a 2nd

• Test form mimicked paper form except for- colour (use of grey background)- font (Arial instead of Times)- navigation and submission instructions

Initial Testing - 2

Focused on navigation. Alternatives tested were:

Tabs at the bottom of each worksheet corresponding to the page of the paper form.

Scroll. A single worksheet navigated by vertical scroll bar

Buttons. “Prev Page”, “Next Page”, “Front Page” located at the top of screen.

Hyperlinks: Standard underlined blue text similar to the Buttons.

All forms allowed tabbing between data entry fields or mouse click.

QEAS - Tabs

Top of page

QEAS - Scroll

QEAS - Buttons

QEAS - Links

Initial Testing - Results

• Scrolling amazingly acceptable

• Labels on spreadsheet tabs, links or buttons that refer to page numbers in the form weren't very useful

• Using macros to solve any of our design problems was out of the question

• The form needed to provide much better keyboard navigation.

• The varying positions of the navigational devices was a confounding factor in assessing their functionality.

• Prior expectation impacted preference.

Evidence of mode effects appearing in tests

• Independence of pages- lack of peripheral vision- cognitive disconnection of early instructions from data entry

• Correction of Errors- ease of respondent remediation- Cut & paste

• Expectations- totals- borders- cell linkages- online help

Second round form improvements

• 9 subjects (5 old/ 4 new)

• Spreadsheet tabs labelled with sections of the form.

• Automatic totals for some questions.

• Instructions about keyboard navigation.

• General instructions for the whole form and first section instructions separated into own worksheets.

• Screen notes: "No data entered in this page" and "End of.." section to prevent scrolling too far.

Second round testing results

• Navigation– labelled section tabs– tabbing between fields– arrow keys & Ctrl Page Up/ Page Down– “No data entered on this page”

• Entering and correcting data- rounding- changing numerical values- automatic totals

The first ABS E-form Standards

• Released in 2002• First pilot of new standards – Local Govt. Financial Statistics collection – conversion of existing Excel forms to new standard.

• Post Enumeration Study – scripted interview.

• PES respondent suggestions adopted :further text areas to each worksheet to aid in data revisions & encourage comments pertinent to each section;include an electronic version of comprehensive notes and classifications;

Current Situation

• Still not offering as principal mode of collection

• ~40 collections making some use of Excel forms

• Usage largely by big businesses & government

• Excel form standards regularly updated

• Increased functionality used in some collections- pick lists- Add row button - use of metadata worksheet to allow for some respondent simple template construction and

tailoring of forms (eg reference date)

• July 2006 E-form audit – need for further standards development

Short term Future development

• Greater automation of data extraction through use of named fields

• Consistency of E-form metadata and editing and further processing