Internet use in Canada

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Of those Canadians who reported using the Internet during 2005, about 90% did so from home. These home-users were asked a series of questions about the specific purposes for which they used the Internet during the past 12 months. Among those using the Internet from home, the most common activities included emailing (91%), general browsing (84%), searching for information about weather or road conditions (67%), making travel arrangements (63%), and viewing news or sports (62%). During 2005, slightly more than half (52%) of home Internet users went online at some point to search for government-related information, and nearly one-quarter (23%) communicated with governments using the Internet.

In order to examine GOL Internet use, Canadians were divided into three groups based on their Internet use in general, and their specific government online usage: 'GOL users', accounting for approximately 8.2 million Canadians aged 18 and over, or about one-third of adult Canadians (33%) and over one-half (55%) of Internet users; 'other users' or 'non-GOL users', accounting for 27% of adult Canadians and 45% of Internet users; and 'non-Internet users', accounting for 32% of all adult Canadians.¹

Three groups of Internet users
Variations in GOL use by socio-economic and demographic characteristics
Variations in GOL use by Internet use characteristics

Three groups of Internet users

GOL users: those who reported using the Internet from home to either search for government information, or to communicate with government in the 12 months preceding the survey.

Other users (non-GOL users): those who reported using the Internet from home but had not used it to search for government information or to communicate with government in the 12 months preceding the survey.

Non-Internet users: those who have never used the Internet, or used it in the past but did not use it during the 12 months preceding the survey.

Approximately 7% of the target population, or 1.8 million adult Canadians made up a residual group consisting of respondents who reported using the Internet during 2005 for personal and non-business reasons, but not from home. These non-home users were excluded from the analyses. The filter questions (SU_Q03 and SU_Q04) that distinguish between 'GOL users' and 'non-GOL users' were asked only of respondents who had used the Internet from home. As a result, there was insufficient information to classify these respondents into one of the three groups. This particular demographic, compared with the others in the typology, was comprised of slightly younger respondents, with proportionately more women. They were more likely to have higher incomes and more education than non-users of the Internet, but less likely compared with home-users, perhaps due in part to their younger age. Those Canadians who had used the Internet but not from home in 2005 were, on average, 37 years old; 46% male; 18% university educated; and 21% from households with incomes greater than $80,000. In addition, over one-quarter (26%) of these non-home users resided in small towns or rural areas compared with 20% of home-users.

Variations in GOL use by socio-economic and demographic characteristics

As with Internet use in general, going online to search for government information or to communicate with government is related to a range of socio-economic and demographic characteristics. While average ages of GOL users and other users did not differ, there were substantial age differences between GOL users and non-Internet users. For example, of those aged 18 to 34 years, nearly one-half were GOL users and more than one-third (38%) were other users, compared with just 13% who were non-Internet users (Chart 1). Non-Internet users also comprised more than three-quarters (77%) of those aged 65 and over, whereas GOL users and other users made up a much smaller proportion of this age group (10% and 13%, respectively). In addition, of those aged 55 to 64 years, nearly half (48%) were non-Internet users, compared with slightly more than one-quarter (27%) who were GOL users, and another 24% who were other users.

Other socio-economic variations are presented in Table 1. Proportionately more men than women were GOL users in 2005. In addition, compared with other users and non-Internet users, GOL users tended to have higher personal incomes and higher levels of education. Proportionately more GOL users (82%) were living in urban versus rural areas, compared with other users (79%) and non-Internet users (69%). However, as will be discussed in a subsequent section, when controlling for other factors in a multivariate logistic regression model, urban and rural differences between GOL users and other users disappeared. This important finding suggests that rural Internet users were just as likely to interact with government online as urban Internet users.

Variations in GOL use by Internet use characteristics

Do GOL users differ from other users in terms of their Internet use characteristics? Examining Internet use in terms of breadth and depth revealed distinct differences in patterns of use between GOL and other users (Table 2). For example, a higher proportion of GOL users (75%) reported accessing the Internet daily compared with other users (54%). A higher proportion of GOL users (55%) compared with other users (36%) also reported spending more than five hours per week on the Internet. In addition, slightly more GOL users (84%) than other users (78%) reported accessing the Internet from home using a high speed connection in 2005. GOL users spent more time online, were online more frequently, and participated in a larger number of online activities, compared with other users. GOL users also appeared to be more experienced Internet users, having been online for a longer period of time.

In terms of the number of activities in which GOL users were engaged while online, nearly two-thirds indicated that they had participated in 10 or more activities, compared with just over one-quarter of other users. The average number of activities also varied by user type (Table 2).

In addition, more detailed information about the online experience of GOL users can be observed from the data. For example, GOL users were more likely to purchase goods or services over the Internet than other users (54% versus 31%), and, among those who purchased goods or services online, GOL users were more likely to pay by credit card (41% versus 23% of other users). A similar pattern held true for Internet window shopping² - more than two-thirds (69%) of GOL users reported using the Internet to window shop for goods or services, compared with less than half (44%) of other users.

Although for the most part men and women appeared to be equally connected in terms of access to the Internet, there were differences in terms of the frequency and intensity of use (Statistics Canada 2006). Among GOL and other users, a higher proportion of men reported being online at least once a day, compared with women (Table 3). Similarly, proportionately more men than women reported being online for five or more hours in a typical week among both groups of users. Other research confirms these gender differences, finding that men tend to be online more frequently, and once online, spend more time, on average, than women (Fallows 2005). Once online however, men and women did not differ significantly in their average number of activities, either among GOL users (12 versus 11, respectively) or other users (8 versus 7, respectively).

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Notes

1. Unless otherwise noted, estimates compared between the different groups of Internet users in this study are statistically significant at the 95% confidence level (p < 0.05).

2. The term 'window shopping' refers to the activity of browsing the Internet to compare products and/or services, look up product descriptions or specifications, check product availability, and obtain price quotes, without placing an Internet order.