Statistics.gov.scot improvement project: discovery user research report

Appendix C – Interview materials

Interim findings summary (for interviewees, pre-interview)

• Four workshops with SG users, including data publishers (n=18)
• Four focus groups with external users (n=9)

Findings:

• Navigation issues: The site is difficult to navigate and unintuitive.
• Search functionality: Ineffective search results; need for advanced search options.
• Terminology is confusing: Jargon-heavy, causing user frustration.
• Technical challenges: Slow loading times, frequent errors, and confusion over ‘dimension locking’ feature.
• Too much, too soon: Participants wanted to start out simple and choose to get more detail.
• Help and support: Online help is hard to find and outdated (but offline support is great!).
• Data publishing: Process for uploading and updating data is complex.
• Trust issues: Outdated content and perceived lack of activity undermine trust.
• Not really fulfilling claim to be ‘Open access to Scotland’s official statistics.’

General interview schedule

Intros (no icebreaker!) (5 mins)

Overview of improvement project + purpose of interviews (5 mins)

Overview of findings so far (2 mins)

• Struggles with navigation and search.
• Confusion with terminology and jargon.
• Issues with site performance and functionality.
• Desire for simplicity to start with, more complexity at deeper levels.
• Difficulty in finding help and support online.
• Challenges in uploading and updating datasets.
• Perception of an outdated site, datasets, and info reducing trust.
• Not really fulfilling claim to be ‘Open access to Scotland’s official statistics.’

Questions:

Reflections on findings:

• From your perspective, how do these findings compare with your experience or expectations?
• Are there any findings that particularly stand out to you?

Gaps:

• Do you think there are any critical areas or issues we might have missed?
• Are there any specific user needs we may have missed?
• OR What additional challenges do you think users might be facing that we've overlooked?
• Do any ideas for improvements spring to mind?

What good looks like:

• In your opinion, what would a good, user-friendly statistics website look like?
• What should be the primary purpose of the site?
• What features or functionalities would be helpful to achieve this?
• OR What features are essential for an ’ideal world’ statistics website?
• In your experience, what kind of support or guidance works well when it comes to stats and data?

PLUS specific questions for interviewees.

Close:

• Anything else you think we should be thinking about?
• Anything else you’d like to add?

Thanks so much!