Overview
The Office for National Statistics embarked on an ambitious digital transformation program aimed at modernising its data collection exercises, which were formerly reliant on paper-based methods. The program objectives were to shift towards a digital-based service, facilitating efficient and accurate data collection whilst decreasing respondent burden.
I was contracted to work as the design lead on a digital survey tool, named internally as the electronic questionnaire (EQ). The project was run using agile methodology consistent with the Government Digital Service standard. In collaboration with traditional research teams within the organisation, my role involved designing the start of a survey and subsequent question patterns, all the way through to submission.
The anatomy of a question
I concentrated on creating a straightforward structure for a survey and question template. The template could then be filled with relevant question patterns and components needed for specific survey types. For instance, business surveys require respondents to submit financial data, while social surveys require respondents to submit personal information.
Evidence based design
One significant obstacle was articulating to stakeholders that the patterns previously used for paper surveys did not necessarily translate to digital, resulting in potential issues with respondent burden and accessibility.
Through iterative design and research cycles, which included collaboration with the Digital Accessibility Centre, we gained valuable insights that provided evidence to stakeholders to change many of the traditional question patterns to better suit the digital context.
The creation of a new design system
The work resulted in developing a comprehensive visual language for digital survey and question design within the ONS. This led to the creation of the ONS design system where many of the patterns are well documented.