“Kiwis Count” Shows Increased Satisfaction
Hon Dr Jonathan Coleman
Minister
of State Services
28 August
2012 Media Statement
“Kiwis Count” Shows Increased
Satisfaction
New Zealanders are increasingly satisfied with the frontline public services they receive according to the latest Kiwis Count survey released today by State Services Minister Dr Jonathan Coleman.
The State Services Commission’s Kiwis Count survey, which measures satisfaction with 42 frequently-used public services, revealed an overall increase in the service quality score.
“This improvement in people’s overall satisfaction with public services is an excellent result considering the fiscal restraints under which the government has been operating since the last Kiwis Count survey, three years ago,” said Dr. Coleman.
The survey results
recorded the overall service quality score for public
services rising from 69 points in 2009 to 72 points this
year.
“One of the government’s four
priorities is to provide better public services and this
result shows we are delivering on that commitment,” Dr
Coleman added.
The largest improvements in service quality came from the services ‘Importing Goods into New Zealand or Customs Duties’ and ‘New Zealand Superannuation’. Both increased by nine points. The survey shows satisfaction with 10 other services also significantly improved since 2009.
‘Applying for or receiving a student loan or student allowance’ was the only service that showed a significant decrease in the service quality score, dropping from 59 points in 2009 to 52 points in 2012.
The survey findings are based on the experiences of 1,121 New Zealanders who completed the survey between February and June 2012.
“In future Kiwis Count updates will now be published on a quarterly basis, with the next set of results scheduled for release in November,” said Dr Coleman.
The latest Kiwis Count report can be found here: www.ssc.govt.nz/kiwis-count-update-aug12
[Scoop copy of report kiwiscountquarterlyupdateaug2012.PDF]
Kiwis Count
background.
1
What is Kiwis Count?
The Kiwis Count survey is carried out by research firm Nielsen for the State Services Commission and was adapted from the Canadian government’s Citizen First survey.
The first Kiwis Count survey was undertaken in 2007 and was repeated in 2009 as a point-in-time survey.
The purpose of Kiwis Count is to accurately measure New Zealanders’ experiences of public services, measure progress and identify opportunities to improve service delivery. Respondents are asked about 42 different public services, all provided by government organisations or local authorities.
2 Why does the SSC undertake Kiwis Count surveys?
Understanding New Zealanders’ experience of public services is an essential first step towards improving service delivery for New Zealanders. The SSC adopted international best practice research aimed at focusing public servants’ attention on what really matters to New Zealanders using public services.
3
Why are SSC doing this survey now?
The survey has been run previously in 2007 (www.ssc.govt.nz/kiwis-count-research-survey)
and 2009 (www.ssc.govt.nz/kiwis-count-2009).
Running it now provides us with up-to-date information. The
refreshed format and process means that we can report on the
findings sooner, and ensure the survey includes questions
and sections that are relevant and useful to government
services both provided and in design now.
4 What are the changes to
Kiwis Count this year?
Kiwis
Count has changed from a point-in-time survey to a
continuous survey with survey invitations sent out each
month. This means that there is always data coming in.
We’re aiming to report the results quarterly, based on a
six month rolling average.
5
What are the benefits of the changes?
Results more relevant to when responses were
provided.
The change to a continuous survey format
will result in more timely reporting of data - more relevant
to when the responses were provided.
Information
for public sector organisations to respond more readily.
Survey results will be available sooner than the
comparable information from previous Kiwis Count
surveys which will assist public sector organisations to
respond more readily to the findings.
Better able to track changes in
services.
The new format can also be responsive to
changes in services and different modules will be able to be
added to focus on particular areas. For example, the current
survey has a module on the channels that people use to
contact organisations and/or access services. Respondents
are asked about the methods they have used and their
preferences when looking for information or transacting with
public services. This module was asked in 2009 and is
included again to enable us to look at changes in behaviour
over the past three years.
6
How are respondents chosen?
A
random sample of names is taken from the electoral roll.
7 How many people take part?
The first quarterly update is
based on the 1,121 people who completed Kiwis Count
between February and June 2012. At least 500 people will
take part every quarter and around 2,000 every year.
8 Can
someone complete the survey on behalf of someone else, such
as for someone with a disability or an elderly family
member?
If an invited participant is
unable to complete the survey then someone else can complete
it on their behalf but the experiences or opinions recorded
must be those of the person invited to take part in Kiwis
Count. To make sure we hear the views of a cross-section
of the population, it is important the person who was sent
the survey provides the responses to the
questionnaire.
9
Is the information supplied kept
confidential?
Yes. Individual information supplied in the survey remains confidential. Individual responses are combined with everyone else’s and are not identifiable.
Nielsen is bound by the Market Research Professional Code of Practice which prohibits them from identifying any person who takes part in a survey unless they have that person’s permission to do so.
Only the data programmers and researchers working on this project can see individual responses.
The online survey is hosted on the Nielsen website, which has advanced security measures to protect both any loss and misuse of the information under their control on the site. The survey data is encrypted and cannot be read without the correct software even if it could be accessed.
10 Is SSC confident that there has been
no privacy breach in the Kiwis Count
survey?
Yes. The State Services
Commission, and their research partner Nielsen, are
confident that no privacy breach has occurred or indeed can
occur in the Kiwis Count survey. Reminder postcards sent
from SSC to survey participants were mentioned in the media
recently. No privacy breach has occurred in relation to
these postcards nor is it possible for any breach to occur.
11 How are the
usernames and passwords generated?
The username and password are generated by Nielsen,
our research provider, not by the survey participants, and
are unique to this survey. There is no way these can be
used to access personal information. If someone other than
the named individual was to log-on to the survey they would
find a blank survey form, there is no pre-populated
information.
12 How is the
survey data used?
The
respondents’ experiences with and perceptions of these
services are used to produce the data that represents the
New Zealand public’s levels of satisfaction and
opinions.
Government organisations and local
authorities use this data to improve both the services they
provide and how they provide them. The ways they do this can
include agencies considering the results and making changes
within their organisations, or using this data with other
evaluations, such as the Common Measurement Tool (CMT) (http://www.ssc.govt.nz/common-measurements-tool),
so they can better understand how well their services work
for the public.
ENDS