The Office of National Statistics (ONS) is running a project to develop an ‘online diary’ as a new means of collecting information on the UK population.
It has plans for a standalone website with log-in and account verification that would provide a questionnaire for individuals to record their activities through a two-day period or more.
Its structure will link to an activity code list that will enable users to choose the categories of activity they are engaged in and show how much time they spend on each. It could also have extra categories such as an ‘other information’ box, for whom a service was produced, and whether a smart device was used in an activity.
ONS has posted a procurement notice for a supplier to support the programme, emphasising that the front end needs to be user-friendly to encourage the easy collection of data from different groups in the population.
The initial development phase is set to run until the end of March.
Image by Andy Smith, CC BY-SA 2.0 through flickr
