Tailor Programs to the Audience with Financial Literacy Questionnaire

Results of the Financial Literacy Questionnaire

Long before you step into the classroom to teach personal finance education, you must know the audience you’re planning to teach. The National Financial Educators Council (NFEC), a social enterprise organization that promotes financial literacy worldwide, advocates structuring programs to the real-life needs and socioeconomic characteristics of the consumers. Developing a deep understanding of the audience might involve using a financial literacy questionnaire to assess audience motivation, knowledge, and current challenges.

The NFEC is a leading provider of high-quality personal finance education. Their methods for tailoring a financial literacy exam to a given audience were guided by James Prochaska’s Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change. This model states that people fall at a particular stage along the continuum of readiness to change:

  • Precontemplation: No intent to take action, and don’t even know their behavior might be a problem.
  • Contemplation: Beginning to recognize there might be a problem, and are considering making a behavior change.
  • Preparation: Have developed intentions to act.
  • Action: Have made some behavior modifications.
  • Maintenance: Have changed their behaviors and have a plan to maintain them.
  • Termination: Positive behavior change is in place and there’s no temptation to relapse into negative behaviors.

Can you see how it would be beneficial to measure where people fall in their readiness to change behaviors related to financial literacy? You can use the information to determine which materials and teaching techniques would be most useful. Financial literacy tests can help you motivate participants to move into higher stages in the model and get closer to taking positive action that will improve their lives.

The NFEC has a financial literacy quiz available that you could use to assess participants’ stage of change. Their expert team also offers consultation to help you develop customized tests to meet unique individual or organizational needs.