B1 StudentAid.gov Mobile Device Usability Evaluation IDI Guide FINAL 11/27/12

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Interview #_____

FSA MOBILE DEVICE USABILITY STUDY 

INTERVIEW GUIDE

FINAL VERSION 11/27/12

SAMPLE RECORD: 1 BORROWER IN REPAYMENT

2 CURRENT COLLEGE /ADULT STUDENT

3 HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR

4 PARENT OF HS SENIOR

DEVICE USED: 

A. ANDROID TABLET

B. ANDROID PHONE

C. iPAD

D. iPHONE

I. INTRODUCTION

The U.S. Department of Education’s office of Federal Student Aid seeks to continuously 

improve its interactions with those who seek information and guidance on the FSA website 

regarding education financing issues and options. To that end we are conducting a brief 

interview to assess our performance and provide you with an opportunity to share any ideas 

or feedback you may have to help us better serve you. 

The interview is conducted by Market Connections, a Virginia-based professional market 

research company. Your responses will remain confidential to FSA; we hope this will allow 

you to feel free to be candid in your feedback to us. 

As mentioned, the purpose of this interview is to talk about a website operated by the 

Department of Education’s office of Federal Student Aid, and get your impressions. We will 

soon go online and I’ll ask you to use your mobile device [RECONFIRM DEVICE USED] to 

review some information and complete a number of tasks. 

It is very important that you talk through out loud the steps you take while on the web site. 

Tell us what you are doing and why, and the feelings you have, including any problems you 

experience and also any areas where things are going particularly well. We are interested 

primarily in your personal views on the content, terminology, the layout and detail of 

information, and how the task-completion process unfolds for you, along with any other 

insights you may have. 

Again, don’t tell me what you think other people might say about the site – I want to know 

what you think. 

This will take about 40 to 45 minutes.

We are recording so we can prepare a report, and I have colleagues observing in another 

room. As part of the recording process, we have a few cameras set up so that we can see 

what you see on your device. 

To reiterate, your comments will be treated as confidential. The information gained from 

this study will be used to improve FSA’s website to make it more intuitive and user-friendly. 

Do you have any questions? 0:03
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II. INITIAL IMPRESSIONS OF THE SITE

When we invited you here, you told us you were: [READ APPROPRIATE STATEMENT ]

1 [BORROWER IN REPAYMENT] An [undergrad/graduate] student with 

outstanding student loans.

2 [CURRENT COLLEGE/ADULT STUDENT] A current undergrad or graduate 

student. Are you a returning student repaying any student loans at this time? 

YES__ NO ___ 

3 [PARENT OF HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR] The parent of a high school senior 

intending to enter a two- or four- year college in the next year.

4 [HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR] A high school [senior/junior] who intends to enter a 

two- or four-year college in the [next year/next few years].

1. Understanding your current situation, what topic areas or information would be most 

helpful or relevant to you personally if you were to visit a website titled “Student Aid.gov”? 

What specifically would you want to look for? 

The site you are about to review contains a variety of information. Please type in

studentaid.gov and take a few minutes now to get familiar with the home page. Also, feel 

free to explore any of the links you see; you do not necessarily need to stay on this page. 

I’m interested in where you’d go next. Please remember to talk aloud through your actions 

so we can know what you’re thinking as you explore the homepage. [INTERVIEWER: 

ALLOW THE RESPONDENT TO EXPLORE THE HOMEPAGE FOR A FEW MINUTES.]

2. Thinking about the home page itself, please tell me how you would rate it on a scale of 1 to 

10 in terms of the ease of finding information on your particular areas of interest, where 1 is 

“poor” and 10 is “excellent.” 

 Poor Excellent

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

a. What makes you say that?

b. So far, which features on the homepage have caught your attention? Please 

explain. [PROBE: specific features liked, disliked]

0:10
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c. To what degree does the homepage give you an idea of what to expect when 

looking through the site?

d. When you first assessed the homepage, did you carefully read the text, skim it, 

or mostly ignore the text portion? 

i. READ CAREFULLY____ SKIMMED ___ IGNORED___

3. IF SKIMMED/IGNORED: Please take few minutes to look over the text once more. WAIT 

TWO MINUTES AS THEY READ, THEN ASK: thinking about the text you read, in addition to 

any other information on the page, to what degree does the homepage give you an idea of 

what to expect on the site as a whole? How so?

e. Prior to our interview, had you ever visited this site previously? IF YES:

i. For what purpose? 

ii. Were you able to accomplish what you set out to do?

f. Had you ever specifically visited this site using your mobile device? For what 

purpose? 

g. Are there any specific challenges or advantages to viewing and navigating this 

site with your mobile device versus on a PC or laptop? What exactly? 

4. At this point, what suggestions, if any, do you have for improving the homepage to meet 

your needs? 

a. IF MEGA MENU/BLACK NAVIGATION BAR MENTIONED, PROBE BRIEFLY, THEN 

ASK, “Is there anything else?”

5. Given what you have seen so far, are you more likely to want to continue looking through

the site, or are you more likely to close the site? 

a. What makes you say that? 

0:20
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III. USABILITY TASKS

TASKS: BORROWERS IN REPAYMENT 0:20

1. Understanding that you are a student loan borrower in repayment, where would you go 

for information on this topic? 

Task 1: Review “Understanding Repayment” contents

2. Please touch the heading, “Understanding Repayment”. Studentaid.gov/repayloans/understand. Looking at this information, what would you touch first to learn 

more? 

a. What do you think of the contents covered in this section? 

b. Is there too much information here to process, or not enough information to get 

a good sense of what you want to learn? 

c. What about the amount of text to read? (Too much, too little, just right?)

d. What are your feelings about the terminology used – do you feel it was written 

with you in mind? 

e. What are your feelings about the layout and organization of this information? 

(PROBE: Does it flow in a logical way?) 

f. Is there anything you would change, or is it fine as is?

0:26

Task 2: Review Loan Forgiveness Options

3. Now look for information on loan forgiveness. [IF PARTICIPANT HAVING TROUBLE:

touch “Repay Your Loans”.

4. What would you do next? [IF STILL HAVING DIFFICULTY: Touch “Forgiveness, 

Cancellation and Discharge” link. Then touch the link “Learn about forgiveness, 

cancellation or discharge”] 

5. On this page, after scrolling down a bit, you’ll see a table. Take a moment to look it 

over. What is the purpose of this table? 

6. Please tell me how easy or difficult it was to find this information, using a scale of 1 to 

10, where 1 is “very difficult and 10 is “very easy”. 

Very difficult to find Very easy to find

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

7. What suggestions, if any, do you have for improving the table? [PROBE IF NECESSARY:

...in terms of the content, layout and design, terminology or any other factors?] 
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Task 3: Locate and use Monthly Loan Repayment Estimate Calculator 0:31

8. Touch the Repay Your Loans menu. Locate and use the repayment calculator to 

estimate the monthly payment amount for the Pay as You Earn option. You may use 

fictional loan amounts for this exercise. [IF PARTICIPANT IS HAVING TROUBLE 

LOCATING THE CALCULATOR: touch “Understanding Repayment”, then touch 

“Repayment Plans” and then scroll down to locate the Pay as You Earn option and the 

calculator for that option.] 

a. Is this where you would have expected to find the calculator? 

i. IF NOT: What needs to change to make the calculator easier to find? 

9. IF NOT ALREADY ON THE “REPAYMENT PLANS” MENU: Now touch the “Repayment 

Plans” menu. Please locate a calculator. [IF PARTICIPANT IS STILL HAVING TROUBLE 

LOCATING A CALCULATOR: Scroll down to the table. You’ll see some Quick Links for 

different types of repayment plans, such as Standard Plan, Pay as you Earn and others.

Touch the Pay as you Earn link. (IF NECESSARY: now scroll down to find the calculator 

to calculate your estimated loan payments for that repayment plan. You will see the

“Calculate your Estimated loan Payments...” link)

10. Please tell me how you would rate the calculator itself on a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 is 

“not at all easy to use ” and 10 is “very easy to use.” 

Not at all easy to use Very easy to use

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11. Please tell me how you would rate the calculator itself on a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 is 

“not at all easy to understand the results” and 10 is “very easy to understand the 

results.” 

Not at all easy to understand Very easy to understand

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

a. What makes you say that? 

12. What feelings, if any, do you have in terms of locating the calculators? What exactly? 

0:40

a. If you were on your own to look for the calculator, realistically, would you have 

continued to search for it or would you have abandoned the search and moved 

on to something else? What makes you say that? 

13. What do you feel are the pros and/or cons of completing any of these tasks on your 

mobile device, versus doing so on a PC or laptop? 
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a. Realistically, would you have performed any these tasks with your mobile 

device? Which ones? Are there any you definitely would not have tried with 

your mobile device?

14. Now that you have reviewed several aspects of the studentaid.gov website, do you have 

any final advice for the Office of Federal Student Aid to consider, in order to make the 

site easier to use for those using a mobile device such as yours? 

SKIP Q15 IF NO TIME

15. Having seen/used the calculator, and become acquainted with the repayment plan 

options, what would be your next step? [PROBE: How would you expect to go about 

making a payment?]

That concludes our interview. Thanks very much for your input. It was very helpful! 0:45
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TASKS: CURRENT COLLEGE/ADULT STUDENTS 0:20

1. Understanding that you are a current college student straight out of high school, or a 

returning college student, you may or may not currently be repaying your student loans. 

In your case, are you repaying any student loans at this time? YES__ NO__

Task 1: Review “Understanding Repayment” contents

2. Please touch the heading, “Understanding Repayment”. Studentaid.gov/repayloans/understand. Looking at this information, what would you touch first to learn 

more?

a. What do you think of the contents covered in this section?

b. Is there too much information here to process, or not enough information to get 

a good sense of what you want to learn? 

c. What about the amount of text to read? (Too much, too little, just right?)

d. What are your feelings about the terminology used – do you feel it was written 

with you in mind?

e. What are your feelings about the layout and organization of this information? 

(PROBE: Does it flow in a logical way?) 

f. Is there anything you would change, or is it fine as is?

0:26

Task 2: Review Overview of Direct Loan and FFEL Program Repayment Plans table 

3. Now look for information on ways to choose a repayment plan. [IF PARTICIPANT 

HAVING TROUBLE: scroll down a bit and touch “Repayment Plans”.] 

4. What would you do next? [IF STILL HAVING DIFFICULTY: Touch “Get details about 

repayment plans” link.] 

5. On this page you see a table, “Overview of Direct Loan and FFEL Program Repayment 

Plans”. Take a moment to look it over. What is the purpose of this table? 

6. Please tell me how you would rate the information in the table on a scale of 1 to 10,

where 1 is “not at all relevant” and 10 is “very relevant” to you. 

Not at all relevant Very relevant

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

7. Please tell me how you would rate the information in the table on a scale of 1 to 10,

where 1 is “after reviewing the table I do not understand how to choose the best plan 

for me” and 10 is “I clearly understand how to choose the best plan for me ”. 

Do not understand how to choose Clearly understand how to choose
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Task 3: Locate and use Monthly Loan Repayment Estimate Calculator 0:31

8. Touch the Repay Your Loans menu. Locate and use the repayment calculator to 

estimate the monthly payment amount. You may use fictional loan amounts for this 

exercise. [IF PARTICIPANT IS HAVING TROUBLE LOCATING A CALCULATOR: touch 

“Understanding Repayment”, then touch “Repayment Plans” and then scroll down to 

locate the calculator.] 

a. Is this where you would have expected to find the calculator? 

i. IF NOT: What needs to change to make the calculator easier to find? 

9. IF NOT ALREADY ON THE “REPAYMENT PLANS” MENU: Now touch the “Repayment 

Plans” menu. Please locate a calculator. [IF PARTICIPANT IS STILL HAVING TROUBLE 

LOCATING A CALCULATOR: Scroll down to the table. You’ll see some Quick Links for 

different types of repayment plans, such as Standard Plan, Graduated Repayment Plan 

and others. Touch any of those links, and then locate the link to calculate your 

estimated loan payments for that repayment plan. (IF NECESSARY: scroll down until 

you see “Calculate your Estimated loan Payments...” link) 

10. Please tell me how you would rate the calculator itself on a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 is 

“not at all easy to use ” and 10 is “very easy to use.” 

Not at all easy to use Very easy to use

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11. Please tell me how you would rate the calculator itself on a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 is 

“not at all easy to understand the results” and 10 is “very easy to understand the 

results.” 

Not at all easy to understand Very easy to understand

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

a. What makes you say that? 

12. What feelings, if any, do you have with regard to finding the calculator? What exactly? 

a. If you were on your own to look for the calculator, realistically, would you have 

continued to search for it or would you have abandoned the search and moved 

on to something else? What makes you say that? 

13. What do you feel are the pros and/or cons of completing any of these tasks on your 

mobile device, versus doing so on a PC or laptop? 

a. Realistically, would you have performed any these tasks with your mobile 

device? Which ones? Are there any you definitely would not have tried with 

your mobile device? 0:43
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14. Now that you have reviewed several aspects of the studentaid.gov website, do you have 

any final advice for the Office of Federal Student Aid to consider in order to make the 

site easier to use for those using a mobile device such as yours? 

SKIP Q15 IF NO TIME

15. Having seen/used the calculator, and become acquainted with the repayment plan 

options, what would be your next step? [PROBE: How would you expect to go about 

making a payment?]

That concludes our interview. Thanks very much for your input. It was very helpful! 0:45
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TASKS: PARENTS OF HS SENIORS 0:20

1. Understanding that you are the parent of a high school senior planning to enter college

in the next year, where on the site would you go to understand about applying for 

student aid?

Task 1: Review “FAFSA: Apply for Aid” contents

2. I want you to touch the menu, “FAFSA: Apply for Aid” (studentaid.gov/fafsa). Looking at

this information, what would you touch first to learn more? 

a. What do you think of the contents covered in this section?

b. Is there too much information here to process, or not enough information to get 

a good sense of what you want to learn? 

c. What about the amount of text to read? (Too much, too little, just right?)

d. What are your feelings about the terminology used – do you feel it was written 

with you in mind?

e. What are your feelings about the layout and organization of this information? 

(PROBE: Does it flow in a logical way?) 

f. Is there anything you would change, or is it fine as is?

0:25

Task 2: Review FAFSA Overview video

3. Please touch the video link titled “FAFSA Overview” and either during or after the video 

let me know what you think. 

4. Thinking about the video, please tell me how you would rate it on a scale of 1 to 10 in 

terms of your ability to understand the information presented in the video, where 1 is 

“the video is not at all easy to understand ” and 10 is “very easy to understand.” 

Not at all easy to understand Very easy to understand

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

a. What makes you say that?

SKIP Q5 IF NO TIME

5. Again thinking about the video, please tell me how you would rate it on a scale of 1 to 

10 in terms of its effect on your confidence in being able to complete the student aid 

application process, where 1 is “I am not at all confident ” and 10 is “I am highly 

confident .” 

Not at all confident Highly confident

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

a. What makes you say that? 0:40
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6. What are your feelings regarding the length of the video when viewing on your mobile 

device? (PROBE: Is it too long, too short, just right?)

7. Please tell me how you would rate the ease of finding this video on a scale of 1 to 10,

where 1 is “very difficult” and 10 is “very easy” to find. 

Very difficult to find Very easy to find

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

a. What makes you say that?

8. When using your mobile device, what circumstances would lead you to view videos of 

this type? 

9. What do you feel are the pros and/or cons of watching this video on your mobile device, 

versus doing so on a PC or laptop? 

0:33

Task 3: Assess “Types of Aid” menu information

10. Let’s suppose you want some preliminary information on the types of aid available. I 

want you to tell me out loud what types of information you’re looking for and how you 

are going about finding it. 

11. Thinking about this section in general, please tell me how you would rate it on a scale of 

1 to 10 in terms of the ease with which you can find what you are looking for, where 1 

is the information I want is “Very difficult to find” and 10 is “Very easy to find”. 

Very difficult to find Very easy to understand

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

a. What makes you say that?

b. What are your feelings about the number of steps required to complete the 

form?

12. Also thinking about this section, please tell me how you would rate it on a scale of 1 to 

10 in terms of your ability to understand the information presented, where 1 is “very 

difficult to understand” and 10 is “very easy to understand.” 

Very difficult to understand Very easy to understand

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

a. What makes you say that?

13. What do you feel are the pros and/or cons of completing any of these tasks on your 

mobile device, versus doing so on a PC or laptop? 
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a. Realistically, would you have performed any these tasks with your mobile 

device? Which ones? Are there any you definitely would not have tried with 

your mobile device?

14. Now that you have reviewed several aspects of the studentaid.gov website, do you have 

any final advice for the Office of Federal Student Aid to consider, in order to make the 

site easier to use for those using a mobile device such as yours? 

That concludes our interview. Thanks very much for your input. It was very helpful! 0:45
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TASKS: HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS 0:20

2. Understanding that you are a high school [senior/junior] planning to enter college in the 

next [year/few years], where on the site would you go to understand more about 

college?

Task 1: Review “Prepare for College” contents

3. I want you to touch the heading, “Prepare for College” (studentaid.gov/prepare-forcollege). Take a few minutes to look at this section. 

a. What do you think of the contents covered in this section? 

b. Is there too much information here to process, or not enough information to get 

a good sense of what you want to learn? 

c. What about the amount of text to read? (Too much, too little, just right?)

d. What are your feelings about the terminology used – do you feel it was written 

with you in mind? 

e. What are your feelings about the layout and organization of this information? 

(PROBE: Does it flow in a logical way?)

f. Is there anything you would change, or is it fine as is? 

0:26

Task 2: Review “Preview the Financial Aid Process” infographic

4. Please locate and touch the graphic titled “Preview the Financial Aid Process” and let me 

know what you think. (IF INITIAL DIFFICULTY: under what main menu heading would 

you expect to find that information?

(IF STILL HAVING DIFFICULTY, DESCRIBE AS NEEDED: Touch “Prepare for College”, then 

touch “Checklists for Academic and Financial Preparation” link. Then scroll down to 

“Preview the Financial Aid Process”. This is the graphic I’d like you to review. Please 

take a few moments to look it over. 

5. What do you feel are the pros and/or cons of finding this graphic on your mobile 

device, versus doing so on a PC or laptop? (PROBE: how about finding this information 

in general?)

6. What do you feel are the pros and/or cons of viewing this graphic on your mobile 

device, versus doing so on a PC or laptop? 

7. Thinking about the graphic, please tell me how you personally would rate it on a scale of 

1 to 10 in terms of the impact it has, if any, on encouraging your decision to go to 

college, where 1 is “no impact at all” and 10 is “very strong impact” on you. 

No impact at all Very strong impact
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

a. What makes you say that?

i. (PROBE IF RATING OF 6-10): Does the impact come mainly from the 

content, or the way the content is presented in the graphic, or both?) 

ii. (PROBE IF RATING OF 1-5): What, if anything, would you suggest to 

increase the impact of this information?

0:32

Task 3: Review “Overview of the financial aid process” video

8. Of course, another aspect of going to college involves how to finance your college 

education. With that in mind, please go to the main menu heading labeled, “Types of 

Aid” and touch the video link titled “Overview of the Financial Aid Process” and either 

during or after the video, let me know what you think. 

9. Please tell me how you would rate the ease of finding the video on a scale of 1 to 10, 

where 1 is “very difficult to find” and 10 is “very easy to find”. 

Very difficult to find Very easy to find

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

a. What makes you say that?

10. Thinking about the video itself, please tell me how you would rate it on a scale of 1 to 10 

in terms of your ability to understand the information presented in the video, where 1 is 

“not at all easy to understand ” and 10 is “very easy to understand.” 

Not at all easy to understand Very easy to understand

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

a. What makes you say that?

11. Realistically, is this the type of information you would a) want to share and discuss 

together with your parents; b) watch on your own without your parents’ involvement; 

or c) forward to your parents to watch on their own without any other involvement on 

your part? 

SKIP Q12 IF NO TIME

12. Still thinking about the video, please tell me how you would rate it on a scale of 1 to 10 

in terms of its effect on your confidence in being able to complete the student aid 

application process, where 1 is “I am not at all confident ” and 10 is “I am highly 

confident .” 

Not at all confident Highly confident

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

a. What makes you say that? 0:40
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b. Would your rating change if you knew your parents will be actively involved in 

completing the student aid application process? What would be your new 

rating? 

13. Is this the type of information you would share with your friends? How exactly would 

you do that? 

14. What do you feel are the pros and/or cons of completing any of these tasks on your 

mobile device, versus doing so on a PC or laptop? 

a. Realistically, would you have performed any these tasks with your mobile 

device? Which ones? Are there any you definitely would not have tried with 

your mobile device?

15. Now that you have reviewed several aspects of the studentaid.gov website, do you have 

any final advice for the Office of Federal Student Aid to consider in order to make the 

site easier to use for those using a mobile device such as yours? 

That concludes our interview. Thanks very much for your input. It was very helpful! 0:45