Response to questionnaire

8. The questionnaire was not administered to a pre-determined sample. Rather, the 'sample' was self-selecting and it was possible to submit responses anonymously. Consequently, the results discussed in this paper represent the views of individuals and groups/organisations that have shown an interest in online authentication and are not necessarily reflective of the general population.

9. A total of 66 responses to the questionnaire were received. In addition, seven general (ie unstructured) submissions were received, three from individuals or organisations that had also responded to the questionnaire. The content of these unstructured submissions are not discussed in this paper, but will be used along with feedback from consultation meetings to inform the design of the authentication solution.

Submission method

10. Respondents were invited to respond to the questionnaire online via the E-government Unit's web site, by email, or by post. Of the 66 responses:

• 54 (82%) were submitted online;

• 9 (14%) were sent by post; and

• 3 (5%) were sent by email.

Respondents

11. The E-government Unit was aware that, as well as individuals, interest groups were likely to want the opportunity to respond to the questionnaire. To understand the depth of the responses received it was, therefore, necessary to ask respondents to indicate whether their response was submitted as an individual or on behalf of a group or organisation. Of the 66 submissions:

• 54 (82%) were made by individuals;

• 7 (11%) were made on behalf of a group or organisation; and

• 5 (8%) did not answer this question.

12. While responses could be made anonymously, to provide some confidence that responses were authentic, respondents were asked to provide some personal information. When aggregated, this information provides a broad picture of the composition of the self-selecting sample for this questionnaire:

• Gender: The majority of responses (62%) were submitted by male respondents. Twenty percent of responses are from female respondents, 11% are on behalf of groups/organisations; and 8% of respondents did not provide gender information.

• Age:Respondents were fairly evenly spread over the 'Over 40 years' category (44%) and the 'Between 20 and 40 years' category (38%), but only 2% are in the 'Under 20 years' category. Eleven percent of responses are on behalf of groups/organisations and 6% of respondents did not provide age information.

• Gender by Age: Female respondents are generally older (62% are in the 'Over 40 years' category), while male respondents are evenly spread across the '20 to 40 years' and 'over 40 years' age groups.

13. In addition, respondents were asked whether they currently conduct business on the Internet (for example, Internet banking, booking tickets, or buying goods). Seventy-nine percent of respondents said they do currently conduct business on the Internet. Only 5% said they do not. The remaining responses were on behalf of groups/organisations (11%) and 6% of respondents did not answer the question. There was little difference by gender or age, but, as may be expected, a higher proportion of respondents who submitted their response to the questionnaire online were currently conducting business on the Internet than those who submitted responses by post (ie offline).