Dear Sir or Madam,

Can you please tell me if any research has ever been conducted or
commissioned relating to the Council's web site? (For example, what
the public would like to see on it, how usable it is, etc.) This
should not include wide-ranging eternal studies that survey many
council sites at once, if not directly requested by the Council,
but solely research that the Council itself has carried out or
directly authorised. This should include any research carried out
amongst staff or council members, and even informal or ad hoc
research (such as collating comments made) should be included.

If any such research has been performed, I would request electronic
copies of any final reports and/or presentations produced, along
with details of when the report was produced, by whom, and at what
cost.

Yours faithfully,

Colin

Colin,
This is an extract from a Public Perception Survey that was carried out
on behalf of Strabane District Council which examined every aspect of
the Strabane District Council service provision. There was a question
about the website which I have included. The whole report is 40 pages
long and refers to all services. It cost the Council nothing as it was
delivered internally

In Autumn of 2007, a public perception survey was issued to gauge public
satisfaction with a range of council facilities and services. The
results of which would be used as a useful barometer, or benchmark, when
considering whether we were actually fulfilling the commitments outlined
in the mission statement, objectives and values

500 questionnaires were issued to randomly selected households in
Strabane District using the electoral register in mid October 2007. The
questionnaire was accompanied with a letter from the Chief Executive of
the Council explaining the purpose of the survey and prompting residents
to respond. 100 completed questionnaires were returned by the end of
November 2007 eliciting a response rate of 20% which is deemed as
statistically significant.

Have you visited Strabane District Council's website?

Respondents were then asked if they have visited Strabane District
Council's website; www.strabanedc.com <http://www.strabanedc.com/> . The
results are detailed below in table 4. Table 4 shows that 19% of the
sample have accessed Strabane District Council's website with, the
majority - 79% stating that they have not accessed the website. 2% did
not answer this question. This compares to 16% of the sample who had
accessed our website in the 2005 survey and represents an 3% increase in
two years.

Table 4: Access Website

Response

Yes

No

Non Answer

%

19%

79%

2%