Magdalena Bravo


CASEN SURVEY.





Brief



In 2019 the Ministry of Social Development decided to transition Casen survey from paper to digital format. This meant that the biggest government survey )after the census) was going to change the way in which it had been applied since 1990. Chilean government has set standards for digital experience and it needed to meet these for this new interface.


For this, CEEL UC, the institution in charge of applying the survey asked for a full digital experience assessment on the interface. However, after discussing the value of design, a holistic assessment on the surveyor's experience was agreed.



Team: CEEL Centre, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

Client: Ministry of Social Development, Chile



WHAT IS CASEN SURVEY USED FOR?



The National Socioeconomic Characterization Survey, Casen, is carried out by the Ministry of Social Development with the objective of providing information that allows:


  • To periodically know the situation of households and the population, especially those living in poverty and those groups defined as priorities by social policy, in relation to demographic aspects, education, health, housing, work and income. In particular, to estimate the magnitude of poverty and income distribution; to identify the population's needs and demands in the aforementioned areas; and to evaluate the different gaps that separate the different social segments and territorial areas.


  • To evaluate the impact of social policy: to estimate the coverage, targeting and distribution of fiscal expenditure of the main social programs of national scope among households, according to their income level, in order to evaluate the impact of this expenditure on household income and its distribution.






THE DESIGN PROCESS




DISCOVERY
This stage set the foundations for the rest of the project. It included stakeholder mapping, interviews (surveyors, supervisors and other management workers), and process and training research.







With a better understanding of the ecosystem, decision making and data collection reliance flow, a Human Centered Approach to Casen survey application, was proposed.

This approach focused on making sure the surveyor experience - interaction with the digital app, training and application of the survey - was the key for increased reliability of the data collected by Casen.




An expert review was also part of the research phase, to make a formal assessment on usability standards and good practice on the existing product.

Limitations: product was already developed, so it could only be improved based on findings.







PROTOTYPE AND TEST



Based on research and the data of previous years a sample of surveyors was taken in order to test a short version of the survey - containing all the critical questions and interactions identified through the expert review.

During this stage of the project, surveyors were asked to apply the survey to an actor in a lab environment, to see if and how they were able to apply the survey in a medium to difficult use case.

The testing included the development of a short version of the survey, recruitment of surveyors, training of actor, recordings of interactions with the app, recordings of facial expressions and follow up qualitative questions and impressions.





FINDINGS



During the test result analysis several technical and usability issues were identified as well as major potential issues coming from the survey itself:

- Language and terminology used in the survey was extremely complex and rare, which may have been a big risk for the reliability of the data collected

- Even though there was a training path for surveyors, it was noticed that they didn't feel prepared after reading the training manual





CO- DESIGN



A working group was established to address and design a solution for the critical findings around question formulation and training of surveyors.







IMPLEMENTATION



All of the interventions designed were implemented into the Casen 2019 version with the approval of the Social Development Ministry of Chile.





Additionally, a reassessment was conducted for the 2020 Casen version in which minor updates on usability and digital application were suggested.





IMPACT



This project demonstrated how design can deliver impact beyond technical usability for digital products. If a Service Design perspective is applied with a systemic lens, then the result of designers being involved in different areas of government can ensure a better quality of work that improves public sector workers' day to day, residents and policy makers tools to design, deliver and measure impact for better policy.