Statistics Canada's Website Evaluation 2018

Consultation objectives

In January and February 2018, Statistics Canada conducted its annual website evaluation by collecting feedback from visitors on a number of topics, including:

• satisfaction
• success in task completion

Methodology

A pop-up intercept was used from January 8 to February 2, 2018, to invite website users to complete a short questionnaire. In total, 10,027 visitors participated in the consultation.

Respondent profile

In order to better understand our respondents' profile, a few demographic questions (e.g., occupational profile, statistical proficiency, frequency of visits, etc.) were included in the short questionnaire.

When asked their occupational profile, 53% of respondents indicated that they were employed; 24% said they were students; and the remainder was a mix of self-employed (8%), retired (8%), unemployed (4%) and not in the workforce (2%).

Of those employed, almost half (47%) were from the business/private sector, approximately one third (34%) worked in government and the remainder were from non-governmental organizations (11%) and other sectors (8%).

Respondents were also asked how they would define their statistical proficiency: 25% said they had a high proficiency (can manipulate datasets and do univariate or multivariate analysis); 59% said medium (can analyze and interpret data tables and turn them into useable information); 13% said low (can calculate a percentage and can display in a graph); and 3% indicated that they have no statistical proficiency at all.

Additionally, respondents were asked about the frequency of their visits to the website: 33% were frequent visitors (visited the website six or more times in the last six months) and 67% were infrequent visitors (visited the website fewer than six times in the last six months).

Results

Overall satisfaction

In 2018, 73% of respondents expressed overall satisfaction with the Statistics Canada website, unchanged from 2017.

Information sought

The consultation revealed that 66% of visitors were looking for data and data tables on a specific topic; 10% searched for studies, articles or publications on a specific topic; and 24% were looking for a variety of things, such as surveys to complete, reference information, and standard classifications.

Task completion success

Like the 2017 results, those from 2018 show that more than three quarters (76%) of respondents completed their task successfully.

Among successful respondents, 79% took less than 6 minutes to find the information they were seeking and 79% reported that finding information was easy.

Frequent visitors indicated a higher success rate in completing their tasks (83%) than infrequent visitors (73%).

Respondents in the provincial (78%) and federal (79%) government sectors had the most success in finding information.

Among all visitors, the success level was highest for respondents looking for information in The Daily, at 93%.

How to get involved

This consultation is now closed, but individuals who wish to obtain more information or to take part in a future consultation project should contact Statistics Canada by sending an email to statcan.consultations-consultations.statcan@statcan.gc.ca.

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

Statistics Canada is committed to respecting the privacy of consultation participants. All personal information created, held or collected by the agency is kept strictly confidential; it is protected by the Privacy Act and the Statistics Act.

For more information on Statistics Canada's privacy policies, please consult the Privacy notice.

Statistics Canada thanks participants for their contribution to this consultation. Their insights guide the agency's web development and ensure that the final products meet users' needs.