Consumers in the Digital World: Representative Survey on Digital Consumer Skills and the Use of Comparison and Mediation Platforms

1. Digital literacy: general internet use; frequency of internet use for selected services; knowledge test to determine digital consumer competences based on various statements (e.g. reliability of information from search engines, different results by different search engines, consumer rights for online purchases, etc.); self-assessment of competences in the scope with the internet overall and in individual areas. 2. Comparison of providers on the internet: Time of the last search on the internet for offers or prices from different providers for a product or service and comparing these offers and prices; options used for comparing offers for a specific product or service on the internet (e.g. search in search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, pure price comparison sites such as billiger.de or guenstiger.de, websites of test institutes e.g. Test.de. Finanztest, Ökotest, etc.); type of pure comparison platforms used; comparison and brokerage platforms with ordering function facilitate decision for a provider; reasons for facilitated decision for a provider (open); reasons for more difficult decision for a provider (open); reasons for non-use of comparison and brokerage platforms (open); booking or contract concluded when using comparison and brokerage platforms (open); reasons why no booking or no contract was concluded (open); trust in comparison and mediation platforms with ordering function; change in trust in these platforms within the last 5 years. 3. Mediation portals in detail: time of last use of comparison and mediation platforms for offers from different sectors and areas (travel, energy, insurance, telecommunications, loans or investments, other area); use of comparison and mediation platforms for comparison in the area of travel, energy, insurance, telecommunications, loans or investments or other area; other area (open mention); during the last search, the offers were only compared or also booked or a contract was concluded; first list of results changed or adjusted by sorting according to a new criterion or using a filter; reasons for adjusting the list of results (open); certain that offer is the best or also booked or concluded a contract; reasons for uncertainty about the results list (open); reasons for uncertainty about the results list (open) concluded a contract; first list of results changed or adjusted by sorting according to new criterion or using a filter; reasons for adjusting the list of results (open mention); certain that offer is the best; reasons for uncertainty as to whether offer is the best; information behaviour on the comparison platform about the following things: How and with what the comparison portal earns its money, whether a contract is concluded with the provider or the platform if one chooses one of the offers found, whether and how the comparison portal cooperates with other portals or the providers found, how completely the offers existing for the service as a whole are taken into account by the platform at all, how the order resp. the user ratings of the listed offers; information on these questions was sufficient or further information is required; reasons why the respondent did not obtain information on the aforementioned questions; estimated percentage of the offers existing for the service as a whole that are taken into account at all by comparison platforms. Demography: gender; age; year of birth; highest level of education; household size; number of persons in the household aged 18 and over; number of landline telephone numbers through which the household can be reached; number of mobile telephone numbers through which the respondent can be reached privately in person; net household income (grouped); federal state; city size; size of BIK town; BIK regions. Additionally coded were: Serial number; index of digital consumer competence; age groups; education (low, medium, high); household size; household net income; spatial category region (north, east, south, west); general internet use; self-assessment of internet use (very/very secure, rather/very insecure); frequency of internet use (daily, weekly, rarely/never); buying, booking, ordering on the internet; selling on the internet; thematic area (travel, insurance, telecommunications, energy, loans or investments, other); weighting factor.

1. 数字素养：涵盖通用互联网使用情况；针对特定服务的互联网使用频率；基于各类表述（如搜索引擎信息的可靠性、不同搜索引擎的结果差异、网购消费者权益等）的数字消费者能力知识测试；对整体互联网使用及各细分领域能力的自我评估。2. 互联网提供商对比调研：包括用户上一次通过互联网搜索某产品或服务的不同提供商报价或优惠的时间，以及对这些报价与优惠的对比情况；用户在互联网上对比特定产品或服务优惠时使用的渠道（如在Google、Bing、Yahoo等搜索引擎中搜索，使用billiger.de、guenstiger.de等纯比价网站，或Test.de、Finanztest、Ökotest等测评机构官网等）；所使用的纯比价平台类型；带有订购功能的比价与经纪平台对提供商选择决策的促进作用；促进提供商选择决策的原因（开放式问题）；导致提供商选择决策更困难的原因（开放式问题）；未使用比价与经纪平台的原因（开放式问题）；使用比价与经纪平台时是否完成预订或签订合同（开放式问题）；未完成预订或签订合同的原因（开放式问题）；用户对带有订购功能的比价与中介平台的信任程度；过去5年内对这类平台信任度的变化情况。3. 详细中介门户调研：包括用户上一次使用覆盖不同行业领域（旅游、能源、保险、电信、贷款或投资及其他领域）的比价与中介平台搜索优惠的时间；是否在旅游、能源、保险、电信、贷款或投资或其他领域使用过比价与中介平台进行对比（其他领域需开放式填写）；上一次搜索时，是否仅对比了报价，同时完成了预订或签订了合同；首次搜索结果是否根据新的排序标准或使用过滤器进行了调整；调整搜索结果列表的原因（开放式问题）；是否确定所选报价为最优报价，或是否已完成预订或签订合同；对搜索结果列表存在不确定性的原因（开放式问题）；是否签订合同；首次搜索结果是否根据新的排序标准或使用过滤器进行了调整；调整搜索结果列表的原因（开放式填写）；是否确定所选报价为最优报价；对报价是否为最优存在不确定性的原因；用户在比价平台上的信息获取行为，包括以下问题：比价平台的盈利方式、若选择平台上的某一报价是否会与提供商或平台签订合同、比价平台是否与其他门户或相关提供商存在合作及合作方式、平台是否完整覆盖了该服务的全部现有报价、平台列出的报价的排序依据及用户评分情况；用户认为上述问题的信息是否充足，或是否需要进一步信息；未获取上述问题相关信息的原因；用户估算的比价平台覆盖的该服务现有报价占比。人口统计学变量：性别、年龄、出生年份、最高受教育程度、家庭规模、家庭中18岁及以上人口数量、家庭固定电话线路数量、受访者个人可使用的移动电话号码数量、家庭净收入（分组）、联邦州、城市规模、BIK城镇规模、BIK区域。额外编码项包括：序列号、数字消费者能力指数、年龄组、受教育程度（低、中、高）、家庭规模、家庭净收入、空间区域类别（北部、东部、南部、西部）、通用互联网使用情况、互联网使用自我评估（非常/相当安全、相当/非常不安全）、互联网使用频率（每日、每周、极少/从不）、互联网购物、预订、下单行为、互联网销售行为、主题领域（旅游、保险、电信、能源、贷款或投资及其他）、权重因子。