

Ask HN: Why isn't A/B testing applied to government forms? - TamDenholm

Maybe this already happens but I seriously doubt it, but why don't governments A/B test their forms? Surely it would make sense for them to do so. Please discuss.
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brudgers
[IANAL]

Two official forms = two possible interpretations -> inconsistency. Bidder one
gets form A.1, Bidder two gets form A.2.

Doesn't matter which one wins the bid, the other will cry foul.

[In the US]For governement workers, much of the legal protection against
charges of negligence comes from performing their actions in a consistent
manner.

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mooism2
I think it would make sense to find out whether governments had already
implemented your suggested improvement before suggesting it.

Incidentally, do you want them to optimise the time taken to fill the forms
in, or the accuracy with which they're filled in?

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papps
Not quite a form, but the U.S. govt. has worked on optimizing the typeface for
road signs for legibility - see

<http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/12/magazine/12fonts-t.html>

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anigbrowl
It does, but there are many thousands of forms. RFCs are published in the
Federal Register.

