Institut National des Statistiques et des Etudes Economiques (Insee)

Division Conditions de vie des ménages - Timbre F340

88 avenue Verdier CS 70058

92541 Montrouge Cedex

The EU survey on the use of ICT in households and by individuals is an annual survey conducted since 2002. In France, it has been conducted since 2005.

In 2022, the survey collects data on the access to information and communication technologies (ICT), on the use of the internet, e-government, e-commerce, internet of things, as well as green ICT.

National language: (French) Enquête sur les Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication auprès des ménages

English: ICT household survey

Questionnaire(s) in national language(s) and the translation in English are available in the annex.

The following common concepts and definitions apply under the Integrated European Social Statistics (IESS):

• the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) 2011 published in the following breakdowns: low (ISCED levels 0-2: no formal education, primary education or lower secondary education), medium (ISCED levels 3-4: upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary education) and high (ISCED levels 5-6: tertiary programmes which normally need a successful completion of ISCED 3 or 4, or second-stage tertiary education leading to an advanced research qualification);
• the International Standard Classification for Occupation ISCO-08 at the 2-digit level;
• the Classification of Economic Activities (NACE Rev.2-2008), at section level;
• the Common classification of territorial units for statistics (NUTS 1) – finer granularity of NUTS 2 is provided on optional basis by some Member states;
• the SCL - Geographical code list;
• information about household income is provided at lower level of detail.

Additional classifications used in the national questionnaire: No other national classification has been used in the survey

The ICT survey in households and by individuals covers those households having at least one member in the age group 16 to 74 years old. Internet access of households refers to the percentage of households that have an internet access, so that anyone in the household could use the internet.

The French ICT survey in households and by individuals covers those households having at least one member in an age of over 14 years.

The survey is collecting data of internet users, individuals who have used the internet in the three months prior to the survey. Regular internet users are individuals who used the internet, on average, at least once a week in the three months prior to the survey.

This annual survey is used to benchmark ICT-driven developments, both by following developments for core variables over time and by looking in greater depth at other aspects at a specific point in time. While the survey initially concentrated on access and connectivity issues, its scope has subsequently been extended to cover a variety of subjects (for example, the use of e-government and e-commerce) and socio-economic analysis (such as regional diversity, gender specificity, differences in age, education and the employment situation). The scope of the survey with respect to different technologies is also adapted so as to cover new product groups and means of delivering communication technologies to end-users.

For more details on the methodology applicable in each survey year, please consult the Methodological Manual for the respective year on CIRCABC - Methodological Manual - Information society statistics (europa.eu).

Deviations from standard ICT concepts: no deviations are observed.

Households and Individuals

In the ICT usage survey, the target population for the different statistical units is:

- individuals: all individuals aged 16 to 74;

- households: all (private) households with at least one member aged 16 to 74.

Target population (scope, universe) composed of households and/or individuals:

• Number of households: 26 760 000
  
• Number of individuals: 48 070 000
  

Non-compulsory age groups also included in the target population:

France (all territory excluding Mayotte)

Year 2022

Not applicable

Percentages of ‘Households’ and Percentages of ‘Individuals’

Last three months before the day of the interview

From 28 March 2022 to 17 June 2022

The legal basis for the 2022 EU survey on the use of ICT in households and by individuals is the Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 October 2019 establishing a common framework for European statistics relating to persons and households, based on data at individual level collected from samples (OJ  L 261 I, 14.10.2019, p. 1), as implemented by the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/1223 of 27 July 2021 specifying the technical items of the data set, establishing the technical formats for transmission of information and specifying the detailed arrangements and content of the quality reports on the organisation of a sample survey in the use of information and communication technologies domain for reference year 2022 pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 2269, 27.07.2021, pp. 1-45).

Complementary national legislation constituting the legal basis for the survey on the use of ICT in households and by individuals:  No complementary national legislation

The Law for a Digital Republic, promulgated in France on 7 October 2016, promotes open access to public data. Most of its measures concern all administrations, but some of them are more particularly the responsibility of the activities of INSEE and the Official Statistical Service. The measures fall into three categories: dissemination obligations, free reuse of data and measures promoting the exercise of official statistics.

The French National Commission for Computing and Liberties (CNIL) was created by the Data Protection Act of 6 January 1978. It is responsible for ensuring the protection of personal data contained in computer or paper files and processing, both public and private.

An identified and very limited number of agents of the INSEE have access to the data that identify a person. These are only used for the proper organization of data collection and certain statistical processing. They are then deleted from the databases, so that it is impossible to find an individual in the data tables made available. A detailed archiving procedure makes it possible to control the data made available.

Data are to be delivered to Eurostat in the fourth quarter of the reference year (due date for the finalised dataset is 5 October). European results are released before the end of the survey year or in the beginning of the year following the survey year.

First national results are planned to be disseminated in March 2023.

There is no official release calendar on the Insee website, but the results are published each year in March.

All users are informed of the dissemination of data by an update on the survey page on the INSEE website. It provides the link to the publications and to the site which data available to researchers (Quetelet network).

Annual

The publication of the survey results is the subject of messages on Tweeter posted by the Insee.

First national results are planned to be disseminated in March 2023.

Dissemination of results may be found on Insee's website using searching tools (see the example on protection of personal data).

Results for selected variables collected in the framework of this survey are available for all participating countries on Digital economy and society of Eurostat website.

National data will be available (first quarter 2023).

Number of consultations of data tables not available

National micro-data will be available (first quarter 2023) for researchers on the Quetelet network.

Not requested.

Number of consultations not available.

The main methodological documents of the survey can be found on the INSEE website (reference metadata, summary documents, etc.). The rest of the documentation (dictionary of variables ...) can be found on the Quetelet network.

100%

The INSEE quality unit monitors procedures to improve the quality of statistical processes. Its methods are published on the INSEE website.

Eurostat provides guidelines and standards for the implementation of the surveys in the Member States. It is updated every year according to the changed contents of the model questionnaires. To ensure quality of data, Eurostat implement also wide range of validation procedures to check the quality of data received.

At the national level, several institutions (CNIS, Official Statistics Label Committee, etc.) and departments of Insee (quality unit, etc.) ensure that the survey is carried out properly and that it is compliant with the principles of the European Statistics Code of Practice. The use of the annual Eurostat model questionnaire aims at improving comparability of the results among the countries that conduct the ICT survey. Validation procedures, estimation of missing statistical data and quality reporting are in place. The creation of an official calendar of ICT publications could be beneficial, although the deadlines that have informally existed since the creation of the survey are scrupulously respected each year.

At European level, European Commission users (e.g. DG CNECT, DG JUST...) are the principal users of the data on ICT survey in households and by individuals. At national level, users include also policy makers in ICT ministries, researchers, students and interested citizens.

The Insee does not conduct user satisfaction surveys on the ICT survey on households and by individuals per se. Instead the users satisfaction is monitored on a constant way through informal and formal contacts and communications with users and through requests and comments received by users.

All of the variables required for transmission have been included in the microdata.

100%

There is no problem of accuracy.

The method used is the variance formula for simple random sampling. The sampling plan is equivalent to a simple random sampling, with an overweighting of the strata in which the response rate is the lowest. Simplifying to an simple random sampling suits the situation.

Estimation method(s) for the random variation of an estimator due to sampling: Analytic method

Sampling error – estimation method – basic formula : Sqrt(p*(1-p)/N)

Precision estimates for the question "Individuals having ordered goods or services for private use over the internet in the last 12 months" (individuals who ticked 'Within the last 3 months' or 'Between 3 months and a year ago' in question D1 of the 2022 model questionnaire):

Number of respondents (absolute value for ‘Yes’ answers):   8631 'Yes'

Estimated proportion (in %):  75.8

Standard error (in percentage points):   0.39

Details of the breakdowns are available in the The table in excel file in the annexes. 

See more details on non-sampling error below.

Over-coverage is treated after data collection: if a unit is out of scope (because the respondent is 15 years old or more than 75 years old), it is excluded from the data transfer to Eurostat.

0 %

Not requested in the ICT survey.

1)       Measurement errors:  

There is a mode bias in CAWI/PAPI survey: when the collection mode is self-administered, households tend to select the person who uses the Internet the most, even if it is not the person designated by the selection instruction.

That bias is measured thanks to the “methodological sample” (households with a telephone number which are nevertheless interviewed with CAWI/PAPI survey). The comparison of their responses with the responses in CATI survey enables to control for the bias due to the mode effect (the CAWI/PAPI survey over-estimates the rate of equipment and the use of Internet). INSEE correct it in an additional calibration step, to reduce the use of Internet.

2)       Questionnaire design and testing:  

In the CAWI questionnaire, filters and controls are integrated in order to reduce the interviewee's comprehension difficulties as much as possible. In the PAPI questionnaire, the passages from one question to another are written in accordance with best cognitive practices, in order to guide the user. Several people at the Insee test the questionnaire to make sure the questions are worded correctly and the redirects are working.

3)       Interviewer training:  

Interviewers are engaged for the CATI survey. They are trained in the content of the questionnaire, in how to understand the questions, in the instructions they can give to the respondents and in the use of collection tools. Summary documents are made available to them to help them during collection.

4)       Proxy interview rates:  

0 % : proxy is not allowed

Information about non-respondents:  The non-response is mainly due to people with less qualifications, unemployed or inactive. The treatment of non-response slightly lowers the rate of Internet equipment (from 93.0% to 91.1%).

The unit response rate is the ratio of the number of in-scope respondents (= the number of achieved interviews or the net sample size to the number of eligible elements selected from the sampling frame).

Unit non-response rate for

• Households: 44.0 %
• Individuals (aged 16-74): 45.1 %

 Comments, if any:

The difference in the figure for households and individuals in the number of ineligible elements [B] is due to the fact that some households contain individuals both in and out of the Eurostat scope, which is smaller than the French scope.

In some cases, the respondent's random draw fell on an individual 15 years old or over 74 years old. The household was then eligible but the individual was not.

In the end, data were transmitted only for eligible individuals (between 16 and 74 years old) and their households.

1)       Methods used for dealing with unit non-response:  

Correction factor in the weighting procedure (using age, number of persons in the household and income of the household present in sampling frame)

2)       Methods used for minimizing unit non-response:  

For telephone interview :

• Advance notification with a letter
• Arguments were given in the interviewers’ instructions
• If the household refuses to respond to the survey, a letter was sent, reminding that answering is important and compulsory
• At the end of the telephone survey period, a new letter was sent with the paper questionnaire to people non-contacted (absent for a long time, …)

For Internet and paper survey :

• Arguments were given in a letter to respond to the survey by internet
• If the household does not respond to the survey by internet, a letter was sent, with the paper questionnaire, reminding  that answering is important and compulsory
• If the household does not respond to the survey by internet or paper, a new letter was sent, reminding that answer is important and compulsory

3)       Substitution permitted:  No

4)       Substitution rate (in %): Not relevant

Items with low response rates (observed rates in %): 

Household income :

response rate =  89.9 % in the telephone interview (value or income bands);

response rate =  94.5 % in the Internet and paper survey (only income bands).

No processing errors detected.

Not requested for ICT Survey

Data are released at national level in March 2023. The dissemination is not possible in the year of collection because survey managers must prepare for the next survey during the same period. Efforts are being made to improve the efficiency of the process and to disseminate the data earlier.

0 day between the actual delivery of the data to Eurostat and the target date when it should have been delivered.

0 day between the actual delivery of the data to Eurostat and the target date when it should have been delivered. 100 % of release delivered on time.

There is no problem of comparability between regions of France. The adoption of a common questionnaire elaborated under the auspices of Eurostat ensures the comparability between the countries that conduct the survey.

Not relevant

Possible limitations in the use of data for comparisons over time:  There have been no changes.

The length of comparable time series depends on the module and variable considered within each of the modules of the survey.

Not applicable

Not applicable

Not applicable

All statistics are coherent within the dataset.

MANDATORY questions in the Eurostat model questionnaire 2022:

The table in excel file in the annexes lists the questions that do not reflect the coverage of subjects and characteristics of Annex 2 of the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/1898 of the 20 July 2021. 

Adoption of OPTIONAL questions and items in the Eurostat model questionnaire 2022:

The table in excel file in the annexes lists the optional questions from the annual Eurostat model questionnaire 2022 included in the national questionnaire and their coverage for age groups beyond the standard scope. 

Additional questions introduced in the national questionnaire:  

In Module B - Use of the Internet : 3 questions about participating in online panels.

In Module C - Use of e-government : 3 questions on the difficulties encountered with the e-government.

In a specific French module Y - Use of telephone : 6 questions on the use of landline and mobile phone.

In a specific French module Z - Free online services : 10 questions on the use of free online services and price for opting out of these services

Effects of deviations from the routing used in the Eurostat model questionnaire: All statistics are coherent within the dataset

There is no revision of data planned for this survey.

Following a slight error in the data used to adjust the sample to the total French population, both weight variables for individuals and households (hh_wght and ind_wght) in the micro-data files transmitted for the French ICT household survey 2022 have been updated.

This modification causes the indicators to vary very little (for example, less than 0.3 point difference for Internet access at home and less than 0.1 point for the use of Internet by individuals).

Not relevant

The source of the raw data is described with more details in the paragraphs below.

The database for phone survey and internet/paper survey is Fidéli, the Housing and individual demographic files, which contains among others the local residence tax database. The database covers all the population. The source Fidéli presents itself as a rational assembly of administrative data, and is designed to meet demographic statistics purposes. 39 000 addresses are selected in Fidéli for metropolitan France and 4 overseas departments (Guyana, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Réunion island), with equal probabilities. This sampling is made using strata: age group * income group * NUTS1 (or only age group * income group if such a stratum is too small for splitting into NUTS1). Within each stratum, the sampling is made with an implicit stratification by department (NUTS3) and municipality. The only shortcoming is timeliness: last update is January 2019 for 2021 survey.

The survey is a stand-alone survey and is mandatory.

The sampling design is a probability design. There are 2 sampling stages.

First stage – Stratification: There is no explicit stratification at the first stage. There is an implicit stratification by age groups * income bands.

The 4 age groups are :

• < 40 years old
• 40-59 years old
• 60-69 years old
• ≥ 70 years old

The 4 Income bands are :

• < € 20,000 per year
• € 20,000 - € 40,000
• € 40,000 - € 60,000
• ≥ € 60,000

The first stage's unit is the household (same for the second stage's unit) and the method used to select the sample is a systematic sampling with equal probabilities with stratification effect.

Additional information :

38 999 addresses are selected in the Fidéli base, with an implicit stratification by age groups and income bands.

•  31 000 households have a telephone number (directly in the Fidéli base or in the official French telephone directory "Pages Blanches").

 At the second stage:

• 3 890 of them are randomly selected (with a stratification by the size of the household) for the CATI survey.
• 19 450 other households are selected for a “methodological sample”: they are interviewed with a CAWI/PAPI survey (see below) and the comparison of their responses with the responses in CATI survey enables to control for the bias due to the mode effect (actually, even after calibration, CAWI/PAPI survey slightly over-estimates the rate of the use of Internet).
• 7 951 other households, which have no known telephone number, are selected for the CAWI/PAPI survey. More precisely, for metropolitan France, 90 % of the households with high income are randomly selected (because we know that their response rate is high), and 100 % of the low income households are kept.

 So, in total, 31 291 households were selected :

• 3 890 for CATI
• 27 401 for CAWI/PAPI

1 individual is interviewed in the household. Within the households, the respondent is selected with a birthday method.

Annual

1) Methods used to gather data:

CATI (17 %) ; CAWI (43 %) ; CAPI (40 %)

2) Short description of the survey method:

Telephone interview for the households with telephone number randomly selected and, for the households with or without telephone number randomly selected, a self-administered questionnaire (the respondents can choose between CAWI and PAPI).

3) Variables completed from an external source:

The region of residence, the geographical location and the degree of urbanisation are collected from the sampling frame (Fideli N-2)

The methodology is used since 2011. It has proved to be efficient: annual data of ICT household surveys are consistent with SILC for equipment rate. The results are systematically confronted with past years results.

There is furthermore a data quality check before the validation by Eurostat: the compliance of the data sent to the instructions is checked and the changes over two years are analysed to see if there is no problem with a break in the series.

The data compilation process includes deterministic imputation, random imputation and weighting, for which the Insee uses the CALMAR procedure.

For the target indicator "Individuals having ordered goods or services for private use over the internet in the last 12 months" (individuals who ticked 'Within the last 3 months' or 'Between 3 months and a year ago' in question D1 of the 2022 model questionnaire):

Imputation rate (% of observations): 0.68 %

Imputation rate (share of estimate): 0.59 %

Methods used to impute item non-response: 

Deterministic imputation : Mean/Median by class ; Regression-based

Random imputation : Hot-deck ; Simulated residuals

Grossing up procedures have been applied to: Households

Household weight = respondent weight * number of eligible household

Description of the weighting procedures: At Insee, factors are corrected in the weighting procedure: the CALMAR procedure is used to gross-up at the same time households and individuals.

The margins used are calculated on the margins of Labour force survey and population census.

The variables used are the age of the individual, its gender, its level of education and employment classification, the number of individuals aged on 16+ in the household, the NUTS and the type of area the individual is living in.

Not relevant

Not relevant