5.1 DAS research questions

The research questions were defined by the product owner, referencing questions drawn from the reverse brief and internal DIA research processes.

Workshop and individual interview questions for government practitioners, decisions makers and subject matter experts

• What driver or drivers motivate organisations to comply with accessibility requirements?
• What major issues are preventing organisations from meeting accessibility requirements?
• What will make it easier for organisations to meet accessibility requirements? What can the GCDO (Government Chief Digital Officer) do differently to help organisations?
• When web work is outsourced, is accessibility compliance included in the contracts? How much is accessibility prioritised when choosing a vendor? How are deliverables vetted against that contractual obligation?
• How might we help agencies balance delivering great accessible digital services while working with limited budgets and resourcing constraints?
• When there is a limited budget how might we meet a good accessibility standard?
• When it comes to accessibility, what is disabled people’s experience interacting with the government online?

Survey questions for government and external practitioners, decisions makers and subject matter experts

• How is the accessibility of your organisation’s services tracked and managed?
• How does your organisation test your services for accessibility during delivery?
• How is accessibility embedded in your organisation’s day-to-day practices?
• In what ways are people in your organisation held accountable for ensuring services are accessible?
• Which roles are accountable for making sure digital services are accessible in your organisation?
• How have people at an executive or leadership level championed accessibility?
• When selecting an external vendor for digital services, how much is their accessibility capability prioritised?
• Before working with a supplier, how might you typically verify that they are able to deliver accessible work?
• When digital service work is outsourced, is accessibility compliance typically included as a requirement in contracts or statements of work?
• Has your organisation received requests from customers to provide any of the following alternate formats for digital information or services?
• How does your team or organisation address gaps in its internal accessibility skills or knowledge when needed?

Workshop and individual interview questions for Disabled Persons Organisations (DPOs) and disabled people

• When it comes to accessibility, what is disabled people’s experience interacting with government online?
• What is the typical feedback experience for disabled people who ask questions or raise complaints about accessibility of digital services?
• What are the preferred modes / methods / channels people with disabilities want to interact with government?
• What are the barriers and impacts disabled members of the public have when accessing digital services through digital products, software, downloadable files, native apps?
• What are the barriers and impacts disabled government staff have when doing their jobs through digital products, software, downloadable files, native apps? How big a barrier is it? Are there workarounds? Are there cases where someone has had to change jobs?
• What are disabled people’s expectations when it comes to the accessibility of government digital information and services? If those expectations cannot (currently) fully be met, what types of things should be prioritised?
• Not all information and services can be produced in alternate formats. If you had to choose, what types of information would you prioritise producing in alternate formats?
• For digital-only content and services, can an accessible web page replace the need for large print, audio, and Braille alternate formats?
• How do disabled people want to be included in the development of the Digital Accessibility Standard?
• Are organisations conducting testing with disabled users? If so, to what extent, and in what way?
• Does bilingual content affect accessibility?

Individual interview questions for suppliers and vendors of government digital services

• How you approach a new project within your organisation, and how you approach usability and accessibility from the start to the finish of a project.
• What standards and guidance do you currently refer to throughout the process, and how do you use them?
• How do you know if you have met the standards or accessibility requirements? How do you test and/or measure this? What are your processes for testing and reporting this?
• How are accessibility processes and deliverables supported within your organisation for your staff / employees?
• How do your clients work with you in delivering good quality usable and accessible products/websites/applications?
• What considerations do you look for when hiring new staff?
• What are the most difficult things to do when building accessible digital services?
• What challenges have you had delivering high quality usable and accessible services to government organisations?
• What are some ways that these difficulties or barriers could be helped? What would make it easier for you? How can the government or disability community help?
• What might make the standards more useful for you? Is there anything missing?
• When there is a limited budget how might we meet a good accessibility standard?

Out of scope, but allocated for future Accessibility Working Group

How should the updated standard incorporate specific aspects of EN 301 549?

5.2 DSDS research questions

Research questions were defined by the product owner referencing questions drawn from the reverse brief and internal DIA research processes.

Workshop and individual interview questions for government practitioners, decisions makers and subject matter experts

• What currently helps and supports in designing and delivering good digital government services?
• What do people know about all the standards and how do they use them?
• Are people aware of the DSDS? How do they come to find (out) it? How and why do they use it?
• Who must follow / is accountable to the standard (for example Core Public Service)?
• What types of people (skills or roles) are required to meet each of the principles? What do you have to think about and do to design a good service?
• Do users of the DSDS understand what each principle means?
• What is a useful and agreed upon definition of a government service? Do people already have a sense of what one is? What types of services should be covered by the DSDS?
• What should the updated principles be / include? Is there anything that the draft standards are missing about designing services?
• What is a suitable new name for the Digital Service Design Standard that people understand?
• What are the barriers to creating accessible, usable digital government services?
• What are the barriers to developing bilingual content by service providers?
• What service design best practices can we incorporate from indigenous or international learnings, and where is the standard currently excluding or harming those groups?
• What challenges do third parties face when delivering govt services? What are the successful parts of this delivery? How can third parties deliver better quality?
• What training is needed across government? What skills are required to design a service effectively?
• What skills development support (training and resources) do practitioners currently have access to? Of these, which are the most used/most useful?
• What would help in the future and support in designing and delivering good digital government services?

Survey questions for government and external practitioners, decisions makers and subject matter experts

• How often do you refer to the Digital Service Design Standard?
• Why do you use standards for government digital services?
• How important is it to follow the Digital Service Design Standard?
• What resources would help you to deliver good government digital services?
• Which of these principles does your organisation need support with?
• Do you think that the Digital Service Design Standard should be mandatory to follow?
• How important is each principle for delivering a good government digital service?