The research described here examines the problems encountered by people when filling in forms. Subjects were required to complete forms on the basis of a situation sketch, while thinking aloud. From the completed forms, the observations, and the subjects' comments, conclusions could be drawn about the types o f problems the subjects had encountered and about the strategies they had used. These conclusions, together with various suggestions found in the literature, provided a guideline for a thorough revision o f seven forms. A test showed that, after revision, the number o f forms completed unacccptably was reduced by about half.In 1989, a remarkable report was published by Van Oorschot and Kolkhuis Tanke, two researchers from Tilburg University in The Netherlands [1]. This report described the findings of an international study into the so-called underconsump tion o f social security benefits. Having examined a large number o f reports published by governments and universities in Western European countries, Van Oorschot and Kolkhuis Tanke conclude that many citizens who have a right to social security benefits receive little, if any, of what they are entitled to. To give some examples: in Great Britain, 49 percent o f those entitled to family income supplements do not actually receive them; in France, 22 percent of the people over age sixty-five wait more than five years before claiming their old age pension; and•O ur research was made possible in part by a commission from the Dutch Government Information Service (Rijksvoorlichtingsdienst).