Consultation objectives

This study was designed to provide the Tourism and the Centre for Education Statistics Division with client feedback on the quality of the Tourism Statistics Program and related services to help the division better understand clients’ needs and priorities.

In addition to ongoing discussions with the partners who provide program feedback, the Tourism Statistics Program conducted a client satisfaction survey in September 2010.

Consultation methodology

An electronic questionnaire was developed in both official languages that allowed respondents to evaluate the programs and services. Satisfaction and importance were rated on a 5-point scale from low (1) to high (5) and respondents were invited to provide comments.

Invitations to participate in the survey were sent to 481 clients of the Tourism Statistics Program.

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, client satisfaction was positive with respect to the Tourism Statistics Program. Documentation (information about concepts, sources, methods and data quality) and ease of use of the material received the highest satisfaction ratings. Most respondents agreed that the tourism statistics allowed them to better understand the trends and issues of the tourism sector and helped them to make more informed decisions.

Two products were evaluated: Travel Survey of Residents of Canada (TSRC) standard tables and International Travel, an annual publication based on the International Travel Survey (ITS). Most respondents rated the two products as important or critical—TSRC (83%), International Travel (84%).

The lowest satisfaction result was for the timeliness of the data. Comments were informative, but varied. Concerns were expressed with the timeliness of the TSRC estimates for 2006 and 2007. Information gaps were identified for both ITS and TSRC.

Many respondents would like to see the scope, timeliness and the level of detail of the data improved. Data at the provincial and municipal levels, as well as a quicker turnaround for all data, was also requested.

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.

Consultation objectives

In April 2012, Statistics Canada launched its three-year New Dissemination Model project with the goal of modernizing the methods and framework for disseminating data via its website. In June 2013, Communications Division conducted usability testing on four areas of the site that help make up the new geography component of the New Dissemination Model — Browse by subject, Geography door (mapping tool), and the Change the geography feature of the Key statistics and Census profiles.

Consultation methodology

Statistics Canada held in-person usability consultations in Ottawa. In total, 10 participants were asked to complete tasks using the new geography component and to provide feedback on its ease of use.

Results

What worked

The Browse by subject feature was well received, with most participants successfully completing their tasks.

Participants liked the Change the geography feature in the census profiles and in the Key statistics section on the subject landing page and the search results page.

They also liked how the search results were presented by type of product (data, analysis, methods) on the search result page.

The Key statistics feature on the home page also tested well, and was considered intuitive and easy to use.

What did not work

Participants noted that the proposed Geography mapping tool was not intuitive, with many finding it too complex and difficult to use.

The key indicators and featured products on the subject landing page were not always used by participants to complete tasks, as many did not notice them or misunderstood their function.

Participants also found certain elements on the results landing page hard to identify, such as the geography details in product titles and geography filters on the right-hand sidebar. Some found that, generally, the product titles on the page were hard to decipher.

While the Change the geography features tested well on the Census profiles, some participants found manipulating the census profile data tables difficult: they were given too many geographical variables from which to choose, the table formatting was unclear at times, and table customization was unintuitive.

Recommendations

In general, participants liked many of the features in the geography component of the New Dissemination Model. However, testing revealed a number of areas for further improvement and testing:

• Provide the Geography door (mapping tool) with a more intuitive label, a simpler list of geographic variables and a more intuitive interface
• Ensure users have easy access to the tutorial for the geography mapping tool
• Simplify the product titles on the subject results page, and clearly indicate the geographic information for the products within the title
• Simplify table customization on the Census profiles, simplify the geography variables of data tables, and ensure that these have clearly visible formatting.

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.

Consultation objectives

The survey was designed to measure client satisfaction with Standards Division services, including classifications and variables, classification search and coding tools, and information about surveys and statistical programs (i.e., statistical metadata).

Consultation methodology

To evaluate its performance, Standards Division gathered client feedback through an Internet-based survey of external users and comprehensive, face-to-face consultations with members of the Data Liberation Initiative External Advisory Committee. As well, quality reviews were conducted of the Integrated Metadata Base program and the implementation of the Chart of Accounts. These reviews produced a set of best practices and recommendations for future work. Another source of information was the report on web traffic for the previous five years.

How to get involved

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

Compared with 2006 levels, client satisfaction with the products and services provided by Standards Division improved. Divisional activities continued to meet or mostly meet the targets set by the agency, with the exception of the targeted annual percentage increase in the number of electronic page views of statistical metadata and classifications.

For external clients, the level of satisfaction with the information supporting surveys and statistical programs, i.e., the Definitions, Data Sources and Methods section of the Statistics Canada website, rose from 3.63 to 3.74 out of 5.

As a percentage of the total page views for the Statistics Canada website, page views for the Standards program remain high. Results and comments from the client surveys indicate that clients want access to statistical metadata and classifications from the Statistics Canada website homepage. It was not obvious to users that this meta-information was located in the Key resources module on the homepage and this may explain the slower than expected growth rates in the web traffic.

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.

Consultation objectives

This survey was designed by Statistics Canada to assess the quality of the Education Statistics Program delivered by the Tourism and the Centre for Education Statistics Division and to obtain a better understanding of program users’ needs and priorities.

Consultation methodology

In 2010, Statistics Canada invited 1,700 clients of the Centre for Education Statistics to participate in a client satisfaction survey. Of the 224 respondents, 41% came from the education sector and 17% were from provincial/territorial organizations.

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, client satisfaction was positive with respect to education statistics, and with its statistical products in particular. With respect to client services, the program elements with the high satisfaction scores were: knowledge and skills of staff, timeliness of initial response, accessibility of staff, service in the language of their choice, clarity of communications and overall satisfaction.

Only three elements received a rating of neither satisfied nor unsatisfied: ability to answer questions, advice on selecting and using the data, and time necessary for the delivery of a product or service.

Recommendations

The key recommendations were:

• Improve the timeliness of the products and services published by the Centre for Education Statistics
• Reduce prices or eliminate charges for those products
• Improve access to the website and data

Timeliness

Recently, the Centre for Education Statistics Division has made tremendous efforts to reduce the survey cycle for the Elementary-Secondary Education Survey. The elimination of a preliminary release saved time and increased the timeliness of the survey. For the Postsecondary Student Information System, efforts have focused on filling the data gap on colleges and on releasing college results at the same time as university results, thereby increasing the timeliness of survey results.

Product pricing

The Division has increased the number of free tables and publications and reduced the price of public use microdata files to less than $100.

Website and data access

In recent years, the Division improved its portal through Education Matters and increased access to pan-Canadian education indicators by making the website more user friendly. Some survey recommendations have been implemented.

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.

Consultation objectives

In recent years, the energy sector has undergone rapid transformation and several key issues and concerns have emerged—price shocks, market instability, security and sustainability of supply, environmental impact and emergency preparedness.

In 2010, the Manufacturing and Energy Division conducted a review of its program content and organized client consultations to assess the division’s responsiveness to data users needs in this challenging and dynamic environment.

Consultation methodology

To evaluate the performance of the division, feedback was gathered from data users and stakeholders through a client satisfaction survey. In addition, the Division conducted face-to-face consultations with federal and provincial partners, stakeholders and key industry associations as well as group discussions at inter-departmental meetings and with advisory groups.

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

External client satisfaction was positive with respect to the statistics produced by the division. For energy data users, 88% expressed satisfaction with the statistics. For manufacturing data users, 82% expressed satisfaction. Survey participants were satisfied with the Division’s outputs which, in their opinion, have a high level of accuracy.

Many clients, especially monthly data users, expressed concern regarding the timeliness of data. Clients also noted issues with the level of detail available, data accessibility and data gaps. For example, respondents would like to see more statistics regarding renewable energy, impacts on the environment, the oil sands operations and their impact on other sectors, and the relationship of manufacturing and energy data with other Statistics Canada indicators, such as employment and prices.

The Division has developed and implemented an action plan to follow up on the questions raised in these consultations, primarily in the areas of client relations, relevance of outputs, data gaps, data accuracy and access of data.

Participants frequently reported difficulty finding the information on the StatCan website. Some clients said that they are not always informed about the launch of new products, data updates and revisions, discontinuation of data series, changes to concepts and definitions, or even new data deletions or changes to data deletions. As well, some would like to see more analysis to help users interpret the data and suggested "storytelling" to provide context rather than simply publishing data tables.

Several participants questioned data collection methods, and recommended that data be collected through online questionnaires in the future.

The participants also noted that, in some cases, multiple information sources are available from various organizations across Canada. Users had difficulty determining which data set was the "official" source. They recommended that efforts be made to coordinate and consolidate collection.

Many clients said that they were interested in establishing (or renewing) dialogue with Statistics Canada, and suggested ways to make that dialogue a reality.

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.

Consultation objectives

In December 2010, Communications and Information Services Program sought feedback from external users on its services, including overall satisfaction with the services and client success in completing specific tasks. The consultation was part of an overall evaluation of seven key services provided by the program.

Consultation methodology

Potential respondents were selected from lists of recent users of the services. Of 1,065 users invited to participate, 349 (32.8%) responded to the survey.

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

Respondents were very satisfied with telephone services, services provided by staff, CANSIM and HelpLine Support. E-STAT and the Copyright Administration Service were rated as satisfactory as well.

Respondents were satisfied with the electronic enquiries service and Publications Distributors’ Relations. In the comments section, respondents raised a number of questions concerning the National Contact Centre (NCC);  however, most of these questions are outside NCC control, such as the availability, timeliness and cost of data, the format of some outputs and the content of the free portion of the website.

Electronic enquiries services received lower ratings than telephone services.  The lower ratings may reflect the fact that while electronic requests are typically more detailed and complex than telephone ones, respondents expect the same fast and complete service from both services. For electronic services, timeliness and overall satisfaction were deemed satisfactory with an average satisfaction rate at slightly below 80% and an overall success rate of 67%.

Recommendations

Key recommendations were:

• Maintain NCC staff training to ensure a consistently high level of client service
• Clarify and simplify processes and rules regarding copyright, licensing and pricing
• Enhance E-STAT to be more user friendly, including the search engine and lesson plans
• Improve the search engine for the overall website

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.

Consultation objectives

This evaluation was designed to assess the ability of the Distributive Trades Division and the Industry Services Division to meet the needs and priorities of their external and internal clients. The feedback will be used by the divisions to improve their programs, products and services.

Consultation methodology

As both divisions share many of the same clients, a joint Industry Statistics Program questionnaire was created.

The questionnaire was designed to obtain:

• program satisfaction and importance ratings
• suggestions for improvements
• input on unmet information needs

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

Clients were very satisfied with retail trade financial information, retail trade by commodity, wholesale trade, and new motor vehicle sales statistics. They also expressed satisfaction with business consumer, property services, consumer service statistics, and culture and publishing statistics.

Overall, participants agreed that the statistics provided by the Industry Statistics Program helped them to understand trends and issues and to make informed decisions.

It is recommended that both divisions work toward improving the timeliness of the data being released, the level of detail provided, and the ease of use of the information. Other recommendations include improving data accessibility/retrieval and lowering the costs associated with it.

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.