Ensuring Effective and Timely Usability Research
By OIRA Administrator Richard L. Revesz
Cumbersome and poorly designed forms can be frustrating for people interacting with the Federal government. Beyond frustration, a poorly designed form may keep people from getting the benefits or services to which they are entitled. Usability testing is an important tool that agencies can use to understand how real-world users interact with paper and digital forms, websites, or other services in order to identify issues and then address them.
By listening to user feedback, agencies can better understand users’ experiences, which helps agencies improve collections and reduce unnecessary burdens on the public. Agencies often ask how they can conduct usability testing while complying with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), and how they can quickly implement the improvements that they discover through usability testing. Today, OIRA published guidance to help agencies understand how to conduct usability testing in a timely and effective manner consistent with the PRA.
OIRA has long supported usability testing, and encourages agencies to test their forms, websites, and other services. The primary purpose of the PRA is to minimize paperwork burdens for individuals—especially those who are vulnerable or disadvantaged—and to ensure the greatest possible public benefit from the information collected. Usability testing is a key tool that helps agencies fulfill the PRA’s primary purpose.
In today’s guidance, OIRA clarifies that usability testing can often be conducted without the need for PRA clearance. It is important for agencies to understand that, in many cases, they are free to engage in usability testing, with any number of participants, without OIRA clearance.
Further, today’s guidance discusses how agencies can quickly make changes that address problems identified during their testing. OIRA reemphasizes existing flexibilities that allow agencies to swiftly receive approval to update forms, websites, and other services when those needs are identified through usability testing.
Finally, OIRA encourages agencies to think ahead when launching a new or updated form. If an agency plans to conduct usability testing on an item subject to PRA clearance, it should proactively discuss its plans during that process. While not required, doing so will allow for speedier deployment of improvements identified through usability testing.
In keeping with the Biden-Harris Administration’s mission to improve Americans’ interactions with the Federal government, OIRA’s new guidance will help agencies conduct usability testing more quickly and effectively, allowing agencies to improve their forms and provide better service to their customers, make iterative changes, and deploy final revisions to a form, website, or other service without unnecessary delay. This will not only reduce paperwork burdens on the public, but also ensure that the public can more easily access the government resources to which they are entitled.
