Device and Internet Use Among Spanish-Dominant Hispanics: Implications for Web Survey Design and Testing

Abstract

This paper focuses on the lessons learned for design and administration of mobile Web surveys for the Spanish-dominant Hispanic population in the United States. The scholarship on completion of Web surveys has recently started to examine Web usage on mobile devices and Internet browsing patterns to better understand the behavior of mobile users. Yet, we still know little about how Spanish-dominant Hispanics in the United States use their electronic devices to answer mobile Web surveys. In this piece, we use findings from usability and cognitive interviews conducted in 2015. The interviews were part of U.S. Census Bureau tests that will inform design decisions for the 2020 Census. For this project, we recruited and interviewed Hispanic or Latino participants who reported not speaking English well, owned smartphones or tablets, reported accessing the Internet with those devices, and reported feeling somewhat or very comfortable using the Internet. We found that access to an electronic device such as those used for completing Web surveys (i.e., computers, smartphones, tablets) did not necessarily indicate full familiarity with the devices, with Internet activities (e.g., browsing, use of Internet applications) or with responding to mobile Web surveys. Moreover, we found evidence that most participants used a very limited number of Internet applications (e.g., only Facebook or Google). Future research should focus on these issues and their implications for the design of Web surveys. Advancing research on these issues is important for mobile-dependent populations who are still not familiar with answering Web surveys in general.