When Too Many Is Just Enough: Citizen Engagement and Federal Government Websites

Minimum samplings are necessary to ensure the validity and statistical significance of usability studies. But too large a sampling creates more work without increasing significance or validity. Nevertheless, there is a case to be made for casting a wide net and engaging a larger audience than is necessary to actively engage users.

Today, IAs and usability professionals are employing large-scale online usability studies to promote President Obama’s Digital Government Strategy (DGS) and its goal of citizen-centric websites. This presentation will consider how users drive change on private vs. public websites, provide an overview of the DGS, and dive into real-world examples of usability-driven citizen engagement on federal websites. It will discuss appropriate tools and techniques (including recruiting) and important considerations for successful large-scale usability studies (methodology, scope, the UX lifecycle, etc.). And importantly, the presentation will weigh in on the logistical, technical, quantitative, and qualitative challenges of this approach.