1 2020 NCBI ClinicalTrials.gov Website Usability Survey

OMB Control Number: 0925-0648
Expiration Date: 05/31/2021
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2020 ClinicalTrials.gov Website Usability Survey
A. MODERATOR QUESTIONS BEFORE STARTING USABILITY TESTING
A1. Under what conditions did you initially decide to look for clinical trials?
A2. How did you start your search?
A2a. What kind of resources have you typically looked for?
A2a-1. What did you come across?
A2b. Who did you talk to seek information from?
A2c. What other resources were recommended to you?
A2d. What did you like or dislike about some of these resources?
A2e. Have you eventually found a trial to participate in?
A3. Have you heard of or used ClinicalTrials.gov (CTG)?
[IF YES]
A3a. How did you first learn about or discover it?
A3b. If referred, what was the conversation like when they recommended CTG?
A3c. What was your first impression of CTG?
A3d. If used previously, how was your overall experience on the site?
A3d-1. Think of a time you visited CTG, what did you try to accomplish on the site? Were you successful?
A3d-2. How easy was the site for you to use?
A3d-3. Did you experience any challenges when searching for a trial on CTG?
A4. What type of information or features related to clinical trials are you most interested in?
A5. Overall, how successful have you been in looking to participate in a trial?
A5a. What went well?
A5b. What would have made this process easier for you?
B. MODERATOR INSTRUCTIONS
Thank you for sharing your previous experience and some of your preferences with me. Now let’s move ahead and take a
look at the ClinicalTrials.gov website: https://clinicaltrials.gov/. I’m going to drop the link to the website into the Webex
chat. Please let me know if you have trouble locating it. Once you receive it, please feel free to click it open directly or
copy and paste the link into a browser of your choice.
Now that you have it up on your screen, the next step is for you to share your computer screen with us so that we can
observe how you navigate the site. To share your screen, look for the “Screen Share” button on the bottom of your
Webex window (next to video and looks like a document icon).
C. PARTICIPANT TASKS
C1. Now we’re on the homepage of the ClinicalTrials.gov website.
C1a. Without clicking on anything just yet, can you tell me your initial reactions to this site?
C1b. What does the appearance of this page tell you about the site’s purpose and its creators?
C1c. What kind of information do you see here? What do you think you can accomplish on this site?
C1d. If you were exploring, what would you click on first?
C2. Next, I am going to ask you to complete various tasks on this site. Remember that there are no wrong answers. If a
task is difficult to complete, that just lets us know that certain areas may need to be improved. Please remember to think
aloud as much as you can. You can let me know when you feel you’ve accomplished the task.

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C2a [BASIC SEARCH]
As a breast cancer survivor with Type-2 Diabetes, your doctor recommended that you should look into suitable clinical
trials on ways to manage your conditions better. She referred ClinicalTrials.gov to you. How would you find a few trials
of interest on this site?
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What type of information do you look for in a trial?
How useful is the information for completing this task? What was confusing or misleading?
What do you think should be changed? What should be included?

C2b [ELIGIBLITY AND SAFETY]
Now that you’ve identified some trials that might be of interest, how do you determine whether you’d be eligible for
them? How safe are they to you based on the information provided?
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•
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What was easy/difficult about this task?
How useful is the information for completing this task? What was confusing or misleading?
What do you think should be changed? What should be included?

C2c [MAKING A CHOICE]
Based on the trials that you’ve identified so far, how do you decide if there’s one that you’d like to participate in?
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How would you go about with the enrollment process?
a. Who would you like to talk to about enrolling in a trial?
How useful is the information for completing this task? What was confusing or misleading?
What do you think should be changed? What should be included?

C2d [SEEKING ASSISTANCE]
You’ve found a trial that you’d like to enroll in, but there are a few study details including medical procedures that you
don’t quite understand. How do you seek help on this?
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•
•

What type of information would you look for to help you better understand the study details?
a. Who would you like to talk to?
How useful is the information for completing this task? What was confusing or misleading?
What do you think should be changed? What should be included?

C2e [SAVING AND STAYING UPDATED]
As you’ve identified a few trials of interest that you might be eligible for, you’d like to save the records for future
reference so that you can come back to them later. How would you save these records?
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What type of information would you seek to save?
a. What are some other ways that would allow you to save conveniently?
b. How important is this feature to you?
In the event of any record update, would you like to be notified?
a. If so, how would you subscribe for such update? How would you like to be notified?
b. How important is this feature to you?
How useful is the information for completing this task? What was confusing or misleading?
What do you think should be changed? What should be included?

C2f [RECORD SHARING]
Based on your search results, you’ve noticed that a few of the trials you discovered might be of interest to some of
your friends as well and you would like to share these with them. Show me how you would share with your friends
from the website.
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•
•

What type of information would you seek to share?
a. What are some other ways that would allow you to share conveniently?
b. How important is this feature to you?
How useful is the information for completing this task? What was confusing or misleading?
What do you think should be changed? What should be included?

D. POST-TEST QUESTIONS [IF PARTICIPATED IN TRIALS PREVIOUSLY]

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D1. What was your overall impression the pages we reviewed today?
D2. How would you rank these pages based on how easy it was to use, using a scale from 1 to 7 where 1 is very difficult
to use and 7 is very easy to use?
D3. What other information would you expect to see on this website?
D4. Were any of the features or links on the pages confusing to you?
D5. Do you have any other feedback?
[OPTIONAL QUESTIONS
D6. I’d like to seek your opinion on a set of new design of the website we just reviewed. I will drop the link into the Webex
chat again. [LINK: https://federalist-proxy.app.cloud.gov/preview/18f/clinical-trials-prototype/clean/study-detail/]. This
design is not final and some areas may not be clickable.
D6a. What’s your overall impression of this page?
D6b. Does it contain all the features you expected to see?
D6c. Is any information on this page confusing to you?
D6d. What other information would you expect to see?
D7. Do you have any last comments about all the pages we’ve reviewed today or your experiences with them?
That concludes our session today. Thank you for your time and feedback. Your input is very valuable in helping us
improve the site.

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