RDP 2023-08: The Evolution of Consumer Payments in Australia: Results from the 2022 Consumer Payments Survey Appendix A: Survey Methodology

Tanya Livermore, Jack Mulqueeney, Thuong Nguyen and Benjamin Watson

November 2023

The fieldwork for the 2022 CPS was conducted by the research firm Ipsos on behalf of the Reserve Bank between October and early December 2022. The survey consisted of three parts: a pre-diary questionnaire about the demographic characteristics of respondents; a seven-day payments diary; and a post-survey questionnaire about respondents' automatic payment arrangements and their preferences and attitudes about different payment methods. To encourage participation and engagement with the survey, respondents received a gift card worth $100 on completion of the three components.

The survey was delivered online for most respondents but to ensure the sample was broadly representative of the Australian population, participants without internet access were recruited by telephone to complete a paper-based survey. The overall response rate was down slightly from 2019, resulting in a final sample of 999 respondents (Table A1). Respondents recorded a total of around 13,000 transactions in the survey, comprising day-to-day payments, transfers to family or friends, automatic payments and cash top-ups (Table A2).

Table A1: 2022 CPS Response Rates
  Number recruited Number of completed responses Response rate (%)
Online respondents 1,800 943 52
Offline respondents 103 56 54
Total 1,903 999 52

Source: RBA calculations, based on data from Ipsos.
Table A2: Total Transactions Recorded in 2022 CPS
  Number Value ($)
Day-to-day payments 10,422 1,368,521
Transfers and cash deposits 415 168,698
Automatic payments 1,857 512,165
Cash top-ups 421 132,041
Total 13,115 2,181,425

Source: RBA calculations, based on data from Ipsos.

A.1 Survey instruments

Pre-diary questionnaire

The demographic information collected in the pre-diary questionnaire was mostly the same as that collected in 2019. Demographic variables included age, sex, personal and household income, family composition, household size, location (capital city or rest of state), employment status, occupation, education level and whether respondents experienced any disabilities. A full list of debit and credit cards held by the respondent was collected, with the respondent also identifying their primary debit and credit card. Respondents also provided information about how they usually paid off their credit card debt (i.e. whether they paid off their debt every month or whether they let part of the balance roll over from month to month).

Payments diary

The payments diary was similar to that used in 2019 to ensure comparability of data across surveys. In the diary, respondents recorded details about every transaction they made for a week, excluding automatic payments (which were recorded in the post-survey questionnaire). These details included the value, payment method, payment channel and type of merchant. The payment methods and channels that respondents chose from were modified from 2019 to better match the ways that people pay – for example, bank transfers were split between using PayID and BSB and account numbers. For card transactions, online respondents selected the specific card they used (from the list of cards they provided in the pre-diary questionnaire); offline participants only recorded the type of card they used (e.g. debit card, Visa/Mastercard credit card). Respondents also recorded the dollar value or percentage amount of any payment surcharges that they paid. Along with their payments, respondents were asked to include details of cash top-ups, including the value of any ATM fee paid. The full list of fields used in the 2022 diary is set out in Table A3.

Post-survey questionnaire

In the post-survey questionnaire, respondents were asked to record details of any automatic payments that occurred during the diary week, referring to their latest bank statements.

In 2022, qualitative questions in the post-survey questionnaire focused on consumers' preferences and attitudes towards different payment methods. Key topics included use of and reliance on cash, payment preferences in different environments, awareness and use of new payment methods (such as BNPL services) and perceptions around privacy in payments. In addition, there were questions looking at respondents' knowledge of dual network debit cards and two discrete choice experiment style questions about the cash system.

Table A3: Fields in the 2022 Payments Diary
Payments

Date

Day-of-week

Payment amount

Payment surcharge paid (dollar/per cent amount)

Payment method:

  1. – Cash
  2. – Debit/credit card(a)
  3. – Personal cheque
  4. – BPAY
  5. – Bank transfer (PayID)
  6. – Bank transfer (BSB and account numbers)
  7. – PayPal
  8. – Gift/prepaid card
  9. – Transport card
  10. – BNPL service
  11. – Other

Payment channel:

In person

  1. – Tap/wave card on or near card reader
  2. – Tap/wave device on or near card reader
  3. – Insert card into a card reader
  4. – Other in person

Not in person

  1. – In-app on smartphone
  2. – Other online
  3. – Other offline

Payment purpose:

  1. – Supermarket/bottle shop
  2. – Small food store
  3. – Electrical/furniture
  4. – Other retailer
  5. – Take-away/fast-food
  6. – Café/restaurant
  7. – Pub/bar
  8. – Petrol/service station
  9. – Transport
  10. – Leisure/sports/entertainment
  11. – Holiday travel
  12. – Household bills (paid at post office)
  13. – Household bills (not paid at post office)
  14. – Post office (excluding household bills)
  15. – Medical/health
  16. – Services
  17. – Transfer to family member or friend
  18. – Transfer within own accounts
  19. – Cash deposit
  20. – Other
Cash top-ups

Date

Day-of-week

Cash top-up amount

ATM fee paid (dollar amount)

Total value of banknotes in wallet after top-up

Source of cash:

  1. – ATM
  2. – Cash-out
  3. – Over the counter at a bank branch
  4. – Other
Note: (a) Online respondents selected the specific card they used (from the list of cards they provided in the pre-diary questionnaire); offline respondents selected from: debit card, MasterCard/Visa credit card, American Express/Diners Club, or another credit card.

A.2 Survey sample and weighting

The overall sampling process for the 2022 CPS was similar to that used for the 2019 survey. To ensure the survey sample was broadly representative of the Australian population, there were minimum recruitment targets covering key demographic variables: age; sex; household income; location (i.e. capital city or rest of state); credit card ownership; and household internet access (including access to the internet using a mobile phone). Recruitment targets for most demographic variables were based on data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS); data on credit card ownership and household internet access were obtained from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey Release 20.0. Data on use of mobile phones to access the internet was based on Australian Communications and Media Authority's ‘How we use the internet’ data. Minimum targets were based on a sample size of 1,000 respondents.

Recruitment for the survey commenced on Monday, 17 October 2022 using Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing. Most recruits were obtained by Friday, 11 November 2022; subsequent recruitment ensured each minimum recruitment target was met. Ipsos used a combination of automated email/SMS reminders and ad hoc contacts to support completions of the survey.

Due to different response rates across the demographic categories for which recruitment targets were set, we constructed survey weights so that the final (weighted) dataset aligns with population benchmarks. Weighting ensures that the survey data can be used to make inferences about the Australian population. We used the iterative proportional fitting procedure, or raking, to calibrate the survey weights; the same procedure was used for the 2016 and 2019 CPS, though we used R instead of Stata for all analysis. We implemented the raking algorithm using the ‘ipf’ function in the ‘surveysd’ package in R. Table A4 presents the unweighted sample distribution for selected demographic variables, alongside the population distribution and the mean weight for respondents in each group.

Table A4: 2022 CPS Sample Distribution and Mean Weights
  Unweighted sample
proportion (%)		 Population proportion
(%)		 Mean weight
Age(a)
18–24 12 11 0.90
25–34 16 18 1.13
35–44 17 18 1.06
45–54 16 16 1.00
55–64 13 15 1.18
65+ 26 22 0.84
Gender(a)
Female 54 51 0.95
Male 46 49 1.06
Location(a)
Regional 38 33 0.87
Capital city 62 67 1.08
Household income quartile(a),(b)
1st 26 24 0.93
2nd 25 26 1.05
3rd 24 24 1.01
4th 26 26 1.01
Credit card ownership(c)
Yes 60 52 0.86
No 40 48 1.20

Notes:

  1. Population proportion is based on ABS data.
  2. In the CPS, respondents were asked to select their household income from a range (e.g. under $7,799, $7,800–$19,999, $20,000–$29,000, etc). To ensure comparability with these ranges, we derive our estimates of population household income quartiles from the ABS's ‘Household Income and Wealth, Australia’ Table 1.3, where income is reported in similar ranges. Accordingly, the constructed population income quartiles differ slightly from 25 per cent each.
  3. Population proportion is based on data from HILDA Survey Release 20.0.

Source: RBA calculations, based on data from ABS, HILDA and Ipsos.

A.3 Dual network debit card questions

These are the full questions that respondents answered relating to dual network debit cards.

Pre-diary questionnaire

B4 Off the top of your head do you know if you have an ATM/debit card that can process payments through more than one network? (e.g. eftpos, Mastercard, Visa, Unionpay)

Please do not check your ATM/debit cards when answering this question. For this question we are interested in what you know about your cards, not what you actually have.

Post-diary questionnaire

Q7.7 Please check the ATM/debit cards that you own.

Do you have an ATM/debit card that has both the logo of one of the international networks on the front (e.g. Mastercard, Visa, Unionpay) and has the eftpos logo on the back?

On the front of the card: Mastercard, Visa, UnionPay [logos shown]

On the back of the card: eftpos [logo shown]

Q7.8a Thinking about your ATM/debit card(s) that has more than one network (i.e. has the logo of an international network on the front and has the eftpos logo on the back) …

Does it matter to you which network on your card(s) processes your transactions? (e.g. eftpos, Mastercard, Visa, UnionPay)

Q7.8b Thinking about your ATM/debit card(s) that has more than one network (i.e. has the logo of an international network on the front and has the eftpos logo on the back)…

Which network do you prefer to process your transaction?

ⓘ Mark one response only

Q7.8c What factors influence your choice of the network to process your transactions?

ⓘ Mark all that apply