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Australians' Use of and Satisfaction with e-Government Services

10 Appendices

10.1 Overview of methodology

The approach to the study measuring Australians’ use of and satisfaction with e-government services consisted of three stages.

The first stage focused on undertaking background research to inform the collection of data in stage two. Specifically this stage included:

• a literature review including overseas and Australian research; and
• a desktop review of over 70 e-government services.

The second stage of the study was data collection. It focused on collecting quantitative data through two telephone surveys and providing further insight into the findings through qualitative focus groups and interviews.

The market research stage consisted of three components:

1. a telephone survey[18] of a nationally representative sample of the Australian population to determine usage of e-government services (including Internet and telephone) for each level of government within Australia (referred to as the random survey);
2. a telephone survey of people who have indicated accessing government services via the Internet in the past two years[19] to explore motivations for using online government services, levels of satisfaction and identify future service delivery expectations (referred to as the re-contact survey); and
3. conducting focus groups to explore the motivations and attitudes related to key findings.

Further information on the surveys and focus groups is provided below.

The third stage of the project involved synthesising and analysing the data collected in stage two to identify key findings, draw out conclusions and form recommendations. Key findings and draft recommendations were tested in workshops with stakeholders as well as through selected interviews. A draft report capturing the analysis, findings, conclusions and recommendations was circulated to stakeholders.

Detailed information on data collection, including samples

The national random survey

For this survey a random sample was drawn from the electronic White Pages listings across Australia in order to interview a nationally representative sample, stratified by area with quotas controlled by gender and age. Respondents under 18 years of age were excluded from the survey due to methodological reasons. The sample distribution was as follows:

The questionnaire used for the random survey comprised of questions designed to explore the incidence of access to various e-government services. Key issues investigated by the questionnaire related to e-government channels used, current satisfaction levels, and impediments and barriers to continued or increased use of services.

Demographic questions were included as part of the survey to provide information on age, gender, education, respondent’s income, household income, occupation, work status, and household composition.

The survey questionnaire was drafted with input from stakeholders and piloted twice to ensure its validity, alignment with project objectives, ease of use, and that it was a manageable length.

The random survey was used to provide data informing relative incidences of users and non-users of e-government services. For those respondents not accessing e-government services, impediments and barriers to use of these services were explored.

Survey results are weighted to ABS population data to provide incidence levels representative of the Australian population .

E-government re-contact survey

The second survey focused on respondents who have indicated using online government services in the past year. This survey explored motivations for using online government services, levels of satisfaction levels, and identified future service delivery expectations.

All respondents for this component of the research were recruited from the Roy Morgan Single Source database of individuals who had already completed the Roy Morgan Single Source syndicated survey.

The survey questionnaire was drafted with input from stakeholders and piloted to ensure its validity, alignment with project objectives, ease of use, and that it was a manageable length.

Sample

A sample of known e-government users was drawn from the Roy Morgan Single Source respondent database for the re-contact survey. The sample was stratified by area and controlled through gender and age quotas to ensure it was nationally representative. The sample distribution was as follows:

The study conducted interviews with over 2000 users of online government services. This phase of the research drew on a representative sample of the Australian population that had previously accessed a government service by Internet. Usage of government online resources identified via this approach was representative of actual use in the population. This provided confidence that the sample was reflective of the wider Australian population.

Survey results are weighted to ABS population data in order to provide nationally representative information regarding satisfaction with and motivations for using and satisfaction with e-government services.

Focus groups

Four focus groups were conducted to explore further issues of interest arising from the quantitative data collection. The focus groups were conducted across two age groups and regional and metropolitan areas to test the attitudes and opinions of two age segments, as well as to ensure that potential differences between regional and metropolitan citizens are accounted for.

Focus groups were conducted in the following locations:

• Focus Group 1 (Melbourne)
  18-40 year old metropolitan Internet users that rarely or never use the Internet for e-government services
• Focus Group 2 (Adelaide)
  50+ year old metropolitan Internet users that rarely or never use the Internet for e-government services
• Focus Group 3 (Bunbury, Western Australia)
  18-40 year old regional Internet users that rarely or never use the Internet for e-government services
• Focus Group 4 (Shepparton, Victoria)
  50+ year old regional Internet users that rarely or never use the Internet for e-government services

10.2 Terms of reference and project objectives

This project is a study of Australians using government services provided through the Internet and alternate communication technologies (that is, e-government services). It demonstrates and measures the uptake of, and satisfaction with, e-government across all tiers of governments; enabling Australian governments to plan for the future, identify priority areas and deliver more responsive, citizen-centric services.

Project objectives

The project’s objectives were to:

1. provide a snapshot of the range of e-government services;
2. provide a snapshot of the uptake of e-government services;
3. profile users and non-users of e-government;
4. study the behaviour of e-government users to understand the way in which users interact with government through the Internet and telephone channels;
5. identify e-government user and non-user segments;
6. identify impediments and barriers to e-government use; and
7. measure user satisfaction with e-government services and identify possible future service delivery expectations.

The project focused on citizens’ e-government use and satisfaction, rather than business use and satisfaction.

10.3 A guide to definitions and terms used in this report

The following definitions have been used throughout this report:

Total Australian adult population

Represents all Australians over the age of 18 (from which the random and re-contact samples were drawn). To derive this figure the sample used for this study is weighted against ABS data. The sample was based on three sampling parameters: age, gender and geography.

Total Australian adult Internet population

Represents all Australians over the age of 18 who identified themselves as having used the Internet at least once in the past year.

Respondents versus contacts

Citizens surveyed as part of the study are referred to in the report as `respondents’ (that is, people who responded to one of the two surveys). As part of the study, people were asked to nominate up to three specific contacts they had with government in the past 12 months. Where the report refers to percentages of total ‘contacts’ with government, the corresponding figures relate to a percentage of all contacts nominated as part of the study rather than a percentage of all people interviewed as part of the study.

E-government users

Refers to people who have accessed a government service via the Internet or the telephone.

Sophistication of services

Services were classified into three levels of sophistication: an exchange of information is considered the most sophisticated and those where people are seeking information only is considered the least sophisticated. Falling between these two points are services where people provide information (but do not receive information). Where the report refers to the most sophisticated services, it refers to dealings that involve an exchange of information.

[18] Both telephone surveys were conducted using Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) technology and methods.

[19] Although the catchment was drawn from people who had accessed a government service by Internet in the past two years, respondents were asked a screening question when re-contacted `have you accessed a government service by Internet in the past year?’ In cases where the answer was no, the interview was terminated.

Contact for information on this page: <a href="mailto:e-government@finance.gov.au">e-government@finance.gov.au</a>

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