The financial literacy survey questionnaire and other measures in the NFEC’s toolkit are designed to assess several types of data. First, the questions impart understanding of respondents’ current life situations in terms of their personal finances. When these survey questions on money management are administered in a classroom setting, the answers are likely to be diverse; however, appropriate student groupings will emerge from the response patterns. Keep in mind that students are reporting about their own money. That means certain biases may crop up due to them not knowing answers, feeling overconfident about their abilities, or underestimating their skills. When the NFEC collected data regarding how much money people lost due to lack of financial knowledge, the results were telling.

Other questions aim to evaluate money management survey takers in terms of their attitudes and feelings about money, their existing financial habits, and willingness to alter those behaviors. One of the key goals of financial education is to encourage participants to adopt positive money management behaviors that move them closer to their desired outcomes. Prochaska and DiClemente developed the Stages of Change model in 1983 to indicate where people fall along a willingness to change scale. This financial literacy quiz measure can guide the instructor to choose educational methods and materials that connect with and relate to participants at the point where they currently stand.