Data quality statement
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Data asset name: |
Harmful content on digital platforms – reporting and complaints |
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Date: |
25 July 2023 |
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Business Data Steward |
Content Safeguards Branch |
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Purpose |
The ACMA’s harmful content on digital platforms survey is a nationally representative survey that explores the experience of adult Australians who had reported or complained about harmful content to digital platform operators. Data and insights from the report are intended to allow the ACMA to better understand adult Australians’ experiences on digital platforms, including platform use, incidence of exposure to harmful content, and reporting or complaining of harmful content to a digital platform operator. |
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Description of data asset: |
The ACMA received this data from the Social Research Centre (SRC) – the consultant commissioned to undertake this research work for the ACMA – as an IBM SPSS (.SAV) file and analysis tables and Q data tables (.QPack). Data in this report has been provided at an aggregate level; unit record survey responses are not publicly available. |
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Legislation and authority: |
This data is collected as part of the ACMA’s responsibilities under the Australian Communications and Media Authority Act 2005 to report on the telecommunications industry and consumers of carriage services, service and industry trends in the broadcasting and internet industries, and content services. |
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Scope and coverage: |
The data in this report was collected by the Social Research Centre (SRC) using their probability-based online panel, Life in Australia. Members of this panel are recruited randomly via their landline or mobile phone and provide their contact details so that they can take part in surveys on a regular basis. Due to the sampling method, the survey results are representative of Australian adults contactable via either a landline or mobile phone with known sampling errors and confidence intervals. To screen into the main survey, a panel member must have reported or complained to a digital platform operator in the preceding 12 months about harmful content they had seen or heard online. The in-scope population for the screener questions was all active online Life in Australia members. All aspects of the research were undertaken in accordance with the Research Society Code of Professional Practice, ISO 20252:2019 standards (certification number MSR 20015, first issued by SAI Global, on 11 December 2007 and recertified on 24 November 2022 by ISO Experts for a further 3 years to 2025), the Australian Privacy Principles and the Privacy (Market and Social Research) Code 2021. All data for the research was deidentified by the SRC before delivery to the ACMA. All personal information is removed in a comprehensive manner to ensure that it is not possible to re-identify individual information from any aggregate records. Some panel profile variables (e.g., postcode) are not available. |
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Reference period: |
The research was conducted in January 2023. Respondents were asked about their use of digital platforms over the previous 12 months. For the survey, that is January to December 2022. |
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Frequency and timing: |
This data has been collected once, in January 2023. It is not expected for this survey to be conducted on a regular basis. |
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Formats available: |
Charts and reports published in Power BI format on the ACMA website provide members of the public, researchers and other interested stakeholders with the opportunity to view and interact with the data within the Power BI interface, which offers a range of filtering and analysis options. The data is not intended to be reproduced by other government departments. The data used in this report is available in a .xlsx and .CSV format. |
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Other notes: |
N/A |
Data quality dimensions
Accuracy
Data collected through the SRC’s software is analysed by the SRC’s quantitative team at different points and screened for accuracy, completeness and for privacy purposes before being provided to the ACMA. The SRC’s quantitative team employs a range of quality assurance processes aligned with best-practice consumer research guidelines and data governance standards.
All data provided to the ACMA by the SRC is checked by the ACMA as part of analysis and reporting work. A range of quality assurance checks in place to ensure the integrity and accuracy of the data.
As noted in the methodology report:
- All percentages in report are based on weighted survey estimates.
- Where relevant, percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number. As a result, there may be discrepancies between sums of the component items in a table or chart, and the total.
- Base sizes are shown as the unweighted number of respondents on which the weighted estimates and proportions are based.
- Categories with low sample sizes (less than n=100 interviews) should be interpreted with caution.
- Some questions invited a multiple response, so the total responses may sum to more than 100%.
- In some cases, ‘don’t know’, ‘refused’ and categories with only small levels of responses are not shown or were excluded from the analysis. These are noted under the charts in the digital report.
Completeness
The overall completion rate for the survey was 90.5%. Of the 619 participants who were invited to complete the survey, 560 took part (with some refusing, terminating the survey or having other reasons for non-completion).
Not every question was asked of all respondents. Some questions have been filtered depending on the respondent’s previous answer. This is noted in descriptive language in the chart’s ‘base’ notes and the corresponding methodology tables. Care needs to be taken when interpreting the results so that the data is read in the correct context.
Relevance
Data and insights from the Harmful content on digital platforms – reporting and complaints research data help to keep the ACMA up-to-date on industry and consumer trends in areas related directly to the questionnaire, in this case, adult Australian user experiences on digital platforms, to provide an evidence base to inform our policy development and decision making and to assess the effectiveness of regulatory interventions.
Timeliness
The research reflected in the report was conducted in January 2023 and asked respondents about their use of digital platforms over the previous twelve months. For the survey, that is January to December 2022.
Collection
The contact methodology adopted for online Life in Australia members is an initial survey invitation via email and SMS (where available), followed by multiple email reminders and a reminder SMS. Up to 3 reminders in different modes (including email, SMS) were administered within the fieldwork period.
The survey was conducted from 17 to 24 January 2023.
The ACMA main survey was preceded by 3 screener questions, which were used to identify which members were eligible for the main survey, that is, in the past 12 months (January to December 2022) had been exposed to harmful online content on a digital platform. The in-scope population for the screener questions was all active online Life in Australia members. A total of 6,949 active panel members were invited to take part in the screener questions and 4,729 (68.1%) completed the screener.
To screen into the main survey, a panel member must have reported or complained to a digital platform operator in the previous 12 months about harmful content they had seen or heard online. Of the 4,729 active panel members who were invited to take part in the survey, a total of 830 had reported or complained to a social media platform in the past 12 months after having seen or heard harmful content online. To manage the budget ceiling for incentives, a total of 619 members were directed to the full survey. The full survey was completed by 560 (90.5%) participants (up from an initial target of 500 completed surveys).
The methodology used for the research is published on the ACMA’s website as part of the reporting process. All methodological processes are captured, quality assured and meet research and data governance standards within the ACMA and the Australian public service more widely.
All of SRC’s work is conducted in accordance with ISO 20252:19 and ISO 27001:2013 quality standards, the Australian Market and Social Research Society code of professional behaviour, and the Australian Privacy Principles.
Consistency
The research data has only been gathered once. Therefore, there have been no changes in the calculation.
Fit-for-purpose
The research data is fit for the purpose of keeping the ACMA up-to-date on industry developments and consumer trends as they relate to user experiences of harmful content on digital platforms. Data provided to the ACMA for research and reporting purposes in proprietary software including Q, SPSS, and .xlsx/.CSV formats, which aligns with appropriate research and quality standards for quantitative and qualitative data provision. Data published publicly in .xlsx for Power BI reporting also meets accessibility standards and is provided in a format that can be used by interested stakeholders as appropriate.