Cognitive and Usability Pretesting of the Adapted Self-Administered National Telecommunications and Information Administration Internet Use Survey

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Working Paper Number: rsm2026-03

Abstract

The Current Population Survey (CPS), which is currently administered entirely as a computer assisted personal interview (CAPI) survey, is exploring adding a self-administered mode option to its data collection later this decade (Linse & Johnson, 2023). As a result, many supplemental surveys that are fielded as part of the CPS may also be impacted; one of these supplemental surveys is the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Internet Use Survey (also called the “CPS Computer and Internet Use Supplement”). In summer 2023, following cognitive testing of the CAPI instrument, the Center for Behavioral Science Methods (CBSM) at the U.S. Census Bureau conducted exploratory cognitive and usability testing of an adapted self-administered NTIA Internet Use Survey web instrument. There were a series of global changes incorporated in the self-administered questionnaire prior to testing, including modifying household-level questions where a participant had to report household members who engaged in specific Internet behaviors, changing the conversational language typically found in CAPI instruments, formatting the question-level instructions, and shortening the text in introductory sections. These global changes were made to reduce respondent burden and take advantage of the features of the Internet mode and were mostly successful in testing. We also evaluated select questions, to see if there were any changes in comprehension between CAPI and Internet. Overall, questions that participants did not struggle with in CAPI testing were also not difficult for them to answer in the Internet mode. Many questions that participants struggled with in CAPI testing also were difficult in the Internet mode; however, there was one question that was easier to answer in Internet. This exploratory cognitive and usability testing was a successful first look at how the question types and topic areas of the survey perform in a new mode.

Page Last Revised - March 17, 2026