This report presents findings and recommendations from cognitive testing of two new select-all that apply questions about traffic measures (e.g., speed safety cameras, raised intersection crossings) and bike infrastructure (e.g., sharrows, bike lights, buffered lanes) surrounding schools for the School Pulse Panel (SPP). The response options for these questions used highly technical terminology that may not be easily understoold by all participants. Images were added to each of the response choices to provide a visual example for each transportation feature alongside the description. There is limited prior research in using images on online surveys to help with questions that require technical terminology. During cognitive testing, researchers focused on determining whether the images assisted participants in understanding the response options and if there were any usability issues with the images, focusing on the image size and clarity, length of descriptions or the number of response options and images per page.  

Twenty school staff participants took part in the remote pretesting. They were asked to think-aloud while answering the online survey. Researchers noted any spontaneous comments and participant behavior on these two new questions. After completing the survey, participants were asked whether they found the images and item descriptions helpful and how they would have responded if the images had not been provided. Participant feedback confirmed that the images were helpful when selecting their answers and that the questionnaire design was successful. Our recommendations for online surveys looking to include images are the following. Select images that are high resolution, bright, and that accurately depict the topic-specific terminology. During the questionnaire design phase, consider the number of images per page, image size, and ensure images look different from each other, which may assist participants in distinguishing between similar items. These findings and recommendations informed the final production survey, fielded in March 2025. Future cognitive testing should continue assessing images as a tool to assist participants with answering topic-specific and technical questions.