2011 UK Census

We raised some questions about the which might be preferred - a single or multiple access points - and noted some high level benefits and drawbacks of each: question of whether multiple access points are

• multiple access points - not as constrained as a single access route that might represent a compromise or trade off in functionality/usability - each route better able to demonstrate functionality tailored to specific datasets and so able to offer as broad a range of features and functionality as possible, to suit differing requirements

• single access point - collects all data and supporting metadata in one convenient place which helps to minimise misunderstanding and the time and effort needed to learn and use each system, and might help to find additional or related data or information - but might not be able to include enhanced functionality to better exploit specific datasets.

When we say 'a single point of access', this could be a single point for each country and / or a single point for the UK as a whole. The online questionnaire asked questions to gauge user opinion about both of these options.

The questionnaire asked

Question Is it important to have one access point to all 2011 Census data for each individual Census office (e.g. all England and Wales census data available from one access point)? Rank 1 to 5, 1 being 'Not at all important' and 5 being 'Very important'.

Table 10.1

The results show a clear and strong desire for single access points among all user groups regardless of which country's data they use. The average ranking given is almost 4, and in all classes the majority of users rank the need for single access points as either 'high' or 'very high'.

A slightly higher dgeree of importance is expressed by users who use data from more than one Census office compared to a single office, which is perhaps to be expected as users who already need data from multiple countries will prefer to source that data from only a single source in each country.

The questionnaire explored the need by users for data that is even more 'joined-up' by asking

Question Is it important to have one access point to all 2011 Census data for the UK? Rank 1 to 5, 1 being 'Not at all important' and 5 being 'Very important'.

Table 10.2

Chart 10.1 Average ranking of importance of single access points

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Chart 10.2 Ranking of importance of single access points

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Here we see some small but interesting differences emerging among the different user groups.

In each group, average rankings indicate that the need expressed by users for a single access point from which to source UK wide data is lower among every user group than the corresponding need for data sourced from a single point for each country individually.

This is largely to be expected - the user groups who only use data from one country should not, in general, be too concerned with a single access point for UK wide data. It might therefore be somewhat surprising that the average rankings for a single UK access point are quite so high as they are, particularly for England and Wales, where almost 50 per cent rank the importance as 'high' or 'very high'.

Unlike the results for single access points for each country, where the average rankings were fairly similar across user group, here we see a more noticeable difference for users of Scottish data, where the average ranking is significantly lower, and only a quarter of users rate the importance as 'high' or 'very high'.

How do these results compare to your own thoughts about single points of access?

A common entry point for accessing data is clearly desirable, but are there systems and services out there that include functionality to offer better presentation and manipulation that is significant enough to justify alternate routes for specific or more complex datasets?

Let us know what you think.

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