DigiQUAL Methodology

This is a draft of the methodology for implementing DigiQUAL at the five pilot sites. Based on discussions with all of the pilot sites, this may be revised.

Currently, the plan is for sites to select which of the items are relevant to their sites. ARL will develop a survey form that can be branded with the site's logo. ARL will host the surveys on their servers and ask that sites notify their users of the survey via a popup window and by placing a link on their homepage. Alternate methods of notifying users can be considered.

The survey will consist of 5 questions randomly chosen from the subset of elements selected by the site, plus one fixed question concerning users' overall satisfaction with the site. The purpose of this process is to validate the items. Users will rate each item on a 7 point Likert scale for two factors: personal importance and the site's performance.

ARL will collect and analyze the data after deploying the surveys for anywhere from two weeks to two months during spring 2005. Each site will receive a report of its results, along with a copy of the raw data. Sites will not have access to one another's results. For this pilot study, the only way data will be published is in aggregate.