Health Indicators

Consultation objectives

From July 2011 to March 2012, Statistics Canada held consultations on the usability of the Health Indicators portion of the Health in Canada module on the Statistics Canada website.

The main objective of these consultations was to determine whether visitors to the Statistics Canada website were able to complete given tasks with ease when navigating the newly designed Health Indicators product.

Since this consultation was completed, the content and features of the Health in Canada module discussed in this consultation have been changed.

Consultation methodology

Frequent users of health data on the Statistics Canada website were asked to participate in the consultation. Participants were aged 18 and older, of both sexes, from different occupational backgrounds and with different levels of experience on the Statistics Canada website.

Participants were asked to complete tasks using paper and electronic prototypes. In Phase I of the consultation, each participant was first shown a prototype for task completion and then a second design. Upon completion of the task, they were asked to indicate their preferred prototype.

In Phase II, participants were asked to undertake tasks to measure the usability of the electronic prototype chosen in Phase I.

How to get involved

This consultation is now closed.

For more information, contact Statistics Canada through the Statistical Information Service.

Statistics Canada selects participants for each consultation to ensure feedback is sought from a representative sample of the target population for the study. Not all applicants will be asked to participate in a given consultation.

Statistics Canada is committed to respecting the privacy of consultation participants. All personal information created, held or collected by the Agency is protected by the Privacy Act. For more information on Statistics Canada's privacy policies, please consult the privacy notice.

Results

What worked

All participants responded positively to the new Health Indicators interface and were able to navigate quickly and easily through the listing of health indicator topics on the introductory page using either Version A or Version B. They liked the tab approach used in the prototype to display the key resources such as articles, fact sheets, survey information and maps about a particular health indicator topic. They also found most of the tab labels intuitive and liked seeing a data table immediately after selecting a topic.

What did not work

Participants did not immediately understand that the initial table displayed was only one of several tables available from the drop-down menu on the Data table tab.

Most participants found the information on the Survey Information tab confusing, as it included information on more than just the specific health indicator they were researching.

Recommendations

For the introductory pages of the Health Indicators module, Versions A and B tested equally well. All participants successfully completed their assigned task for this page using either version. Experienced users unanimously preferred Version A, whereas inexperienced users unanimously preferred Version B. If consideration is given to the primary user of this module, the experienced user, then Version A is recommended. From a heuristic perspective, the clean, clear design and lighter cognitive load of Version A further reinforces this recommendation.

The labels and functionality of the left-hand sidebar on the introductory page should be updated to meet the needs of the new prototype.

The Survey information tab should be modified to improve usability. Participants were confused by the change in focus from one health indicator, e.g., diabetes, to information on all health indicators. The page should be redesigned to better alert users to this change and minimize confusion.