Statistics Canada's Website Evaluation 2013

Consultation objectives

In March 2013, Statistics Canada conducted an evaluation of its website to seek feedback from visitors on a number of topics, including:

• task completion success rates
• overall satisfaction with the website.

Consultation methodology

Statistics Canada used an intercept technology deployed across the website to invite visitors to participate by completing a short questionnaire.

Approximately 9,600 visitors participated over a period of 16 days from March 21 to April 5, 2013.

How to get involved

This consultation is now closed.

Individuals who wish to obtain more information or to take part in a consultation should contact Statistics Canada through the Statistical Information Service.

Please note that Statistics Canada selects participants for each consultation to ensure feedback from a representative sample of the target population for the study. Not all applicants are asked to participate in a given consultation.

Results

Overall satisfaction

In 2013, 69% of consultation participants expressed overall satisfaction. This rate has been relatively stable over the previous four years.

Information sought and planned use

Consultation results show that 55% of visitors were looking mostly for data and data tables on a specific topic, while 16% searched for studies, articles or publications on a specific topic.

The top three topics of interest were: population/demography (11%), health (10%) and income, pensions, spending and wealth (7%).

Participants planned to use the information primarily for:

• academic purposes and school assignments (35%)
• personal interest (20%)
• policy research, development, analysis and/or evaluation (9%)
• economic/financial research, analysis and planning (8%)
• business development or analysis (8%)

Task completion success

In 2013, 66% of participants completed their task successfully, down from 70% in 2012.

About 76% of frequent visitors (those who visited the website six or more times in the last six months) were successful in completing their task, while 63% of infrequent visitors (those who visited the website fewer than six times in the last six months) were successful. The success rate was highest for participants looking for information in The Daily (85%).

Participants in government or the public sector (71%), non-government or not-for-profit (70%), and in business or the private sector (67%) had the most success in finding information.

Among successful participants, 74% took 5 minutes or less to find the information they were seeking and 75% reported that finding information was easy.

In 2013, 43% of unsuccessful participants were looking for information that was available on the website, but were unable to find it and 12% of participants indicated information that was only partially available. Another 17% reported looking for information that was not available on the website. Just 1% of participants indicated information that was available as custom tabulations but not actually on the website. In addition, 27% of all unsuccessful respondents reported technical problems such as broken links and a webpage that was "not available".

Areas of improvement

Ease of access to data (navigation and search) and website content (information availability) remain areas for improvement.

Consultation participant profile

Of the employed, participants came principally from three main sectors: business/private sector (47%), government (35%) and non-governmental organizations (16%), similar to visitors in previous years. Among participants, 67% were infrequent visitors. Students made up 31% of respondents.

Participants accessed the website through a variety of methods. The most popular was Google (61%). A link from another website (10%), a link in an email (9%) and typing in Statistics Canada's URL (8%) were the next most frequently used methods.

Participants were also asked to indicate which methods they used to access the website: 53% reported accessing the website via a desktop, 40% used a laptop or notebook and 3% used an iPad, tablet, or netbook. Although still relatively small, the proportion of participants using tablets and small screen devices to access the website is growing.

Two new questions were added to the 2013 Website Evaluation Survey. Participants were asked whether they would use a mobile application if Statistics Canada made one available. Thirty eight percent of respondents indicated that they would use a mobile application if one were made available. The application features that respondents indicated were most valuable were high-level statistics or indicators, information related to a specific topic, data visualization, and data about a specific geographic location.

Participants were also asked how they would rate their statistical proficiency: 23% said they had a high proficiency (can manipulate datasets and do univariate or multivariate analysis); 59% said medium (can analyse and interpret data tables and turn them into useable information); 13% said low (can calculate a percentage and can display in a graph); and 4% indicated that they have no statistical proficiency at all.

Statistics Canada thanks participants for their participation in this consultation. Their insights guide the Agency's web development and ensure that the final products meet users' expectations.