Usability evaluation of computer-assisted survey instruments

Computer-assisted interviewing (CAI) has a substantial impact on the way interviewers carry out the task of interviewing. Survey instruments are becoming more complex, necessitating new skills of interviewers. In addition to question wording, the design of CAI instruments is a focus of evaluation and pretesting efforts. This article reports on a variety of research activities related to the usability testing of CAI instruments, focusing both on interviewers (in interviewer-administered surveys) and respondents (in self-administered surveys). The article introduces practices and procedures of usability testing, illustrated with examples from several recent studies in which these methods were applied to the evaluation of computerized survey instruments.