• Target population: all FSO main customers (10 025) defined as all the newsmail subscribers and all the members of the expert groups and of the Federal Statistics Committee
• Survey Method: quantitative survey in written form (available in German, French and Italian), conducted by a web-based online-questioning tool (eSurvey), frequently used for online-surveys in the framework of online-studies carried out by the FSO. People are invited to take part, either by newsmail (subscribers) or by e-mail (members of the Federal Statistics Committee and expert groups)
• Surveyed persons: all FSO main customers (target population) have been surveyed
• Number of surveyed persons: 10 025 main customers, response rate is 19%
• Realisation: October 2007 (response time: 4 weeks from October 1st to October 28th), two reminders were sent
• Analysis: Analysis of the data carried out by external market research institute with SPSS-software
Customer Survey
Survey Design
Respondent Structure
Most of the respondents (30%) work in the private sector, slightly over a quarter of the respondents work for a canton or a commune, 17% work in a public organisation (e.g. international organisation, media, school, etc.). The smallest groups of respondents are represented by people who work in science (15%) and for the Confederation (11%).
The educational level among the respondents is high: Two thirds of the respondents have a university degree or equivalent. 15% of respondents have attended an institute of higher vocational education and 11% an apprenticeship. Only 7% and 1% respectively have a high school diploma or a primary school education.
The educational level among the respondents is high: Two thirds of the respondents have a university degree or equivalent. 15% of respondents have attended an institute of higher vocational education and 11% an apprenticeship. Only 7% and 1% respectively have a high school diploma or a primary school education.
General Results
• most popular means of information: 81% website, 77% official press releases, 41% official print publications, 35% from the media (n = 1 664, on average three sources of information are indicated per respondent)
• awareness level of public agenda: 29% yes, 70% no (n = 1 607 (external users only))
• purpose for using official statistics: 54% personal interest or general and further education, 46% decision making / strategic orientation , 43% information processing, 41% general political background, 33% research/teaching (n = 1 637)
• comparison with trends in other countries: 68% of respondents use statistics for making comparisons with trends in other countries, the most common being population statistics (35%), labour market statistics and/or statistics on income and living conditions (27%) (n = 1 394)
• top three statistics in terms of frequency of use: population statistics, labour market statistics and statistics on income and living conditions (85%, 76% and 71% respectively consult these statistics at least once a month)
• awareness level of public agenda: 29% yes, 70% no (n = 1 607 (external users only))
• purpose for using official statistics: 54% personal interest or general and further education, 46% decision making / strategic orientation , 43% information processing, 41% general political background, 33% research/teaching (n = 1 637)
• comparison with trends in other countries: 68% of respondents use statistics for making comparisons with trends in other countries, the most common being population statistics (35%), labour market statistics and/or statistics on income and living conditions (27%) (n = 1 394)
• top three statistics in terms of frequency of use: population statistics, labour market statistics and statistics on income and living conditions (85%, 76% and 71% respectively consult these statistics at least once a month)
Quality aspects of the FSO statistics overall
On a five-point scale from 1 = «I totally disagree» to 5 = «I totally agree», respondents rated the item «The FSO is an independent information source» highest (mean = 4.3), followed by the methodological comments and the presentation of the statistics. The item «There is enough information on updates to official statistics» as well as «It is easy to find the sought-after statistics» are rated lowest with an average of 3.7 and 3.4.
The rating of the overall quality of individual statistics falls between 4.0 and 4.4 on the five-point scale from 1 = «not satisfied at all» to 5 = «very satisfied», which is relatively high. At the top of the scale is the index on consumer prices and population statistics with an average value of 4.4. Lowest ratings are the statistics on production and added value (mean 4.1), statistics on salaries, wage index and trend (mean 4.1) as well as public finance statistics (mean 4.0).
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04.02.2008 | 430 Kb | PDF