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Queensland news
ACNielsen's Public Enterprise team in Brisbane has conducted numerous studies related to education and skills for a variety of clients. Currently, the team is engaged in a customer satisfaction study amongst clients of the Queensland Department of Employment and Training. This study has been conducted annually since 2000 and provides a long term view of client contact experiences, perceptions of service levels, drivers of overall satisfaction and awareness of products and services.
The Queensland Department of State Development, Trade and Innovation has also commissioned the Brisbane team to conduct a study amongst small business clients that had taken part in department business skills training during 2005. This study measured client satisfaction levels with the training provided, reactions to a variety of new initiatives and service options as well as providing a greater understanding of the client base and their training needs. The Department plans to carry out further related work in 2006.
In 2005 ACNielsen's Brisbane team also conducted several projects for the Queensland Department of Education and the Arts and for several Queensland TAFEs. The Department of Education study involved both qualitative and quantitative research to fully understand client attitudes regarding the current website and how it could be modified to better meet client needs. For Queensland TAFE, a variety of methods including desk research, environmental scans, mail out self completion, in-depth interviews and online surveys have been used to explore such diverse topics as customer satisfaction, student destination after completing their studies, and understanding the catchment areas for specific institutions to assist with future planning and strategy.
New Zealand news
ACNielsen's Public Enterprise team in New Zealand is also active in the education and skills sector. The team has been managing the Massey University Online Student Satisfaction Survey since it began in 2002. The survey seeks to develop appropriate strategies for increasing student satisfaction based around five key drivers of satisfaction. As a result of this research key service improvement strategies have been initiated, which appear to be having a positive effect on student satisfaction in 2006.
ACNielsen's Wellington team is also currently conducting seven evaluation surveys for Career Services, New Zealand's largest and most well established career service provider.The evaluations aim to provide performance measures and include an assessment of client satisfaction, tangible outcomes and awareness of other services. As users of Career Services contact the service through different means, including face-to-face, telephone, online chat, website, and published resources, the surveys mimic the method of contact, for example, participants who used the online chat facility are emailed an invitation to complete an online survey.
Public spending or tax cuts?
ACNielsen's May Poll asked a nationally representative sample of voters whether the priority for the Federal budget surplus should be tax cuts or spending on services and infrastructure.
Sixty-eight percent of respondents nominated spending on services and infrastructure, while 29 percent chose tax cuts.
Similar questions have been asked in the past two years. In 2005, the same figures were returned with 68 percent choosing spending on services and infrastructure and 29 percent choosing tax cuts. In 2004, 75 percent chose spending on services, while 22 percent chose tax cuts.
