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ensure accurate documentation and full retention of any and all critical information
provided. All respondents (100%) provided explicit consent prior to being recorded. After
carefully reviewing and discussing this feedback with the respondents, the authors agreed
with all of the respondents' comments and made revisions to the measurement scales
and included the behavioural questions in the final survey instrument.
Results from the pre-test indicated the original scales used to measure certain
observable variables contained too much shared content, weren't clear enough, or didn't
accurately reflect all of the experiences of users of OPAS. Upon reviewing all feedback,
researchers determined that there was substantial agreement among respondents on
three primary concerns: (1) the timeframe in the behavioural question regarding how
often participants had used the service was incorrect; (2) the original scales were
unnecessarily long and repeated similar items; and (3) the academic terms used to define
items on some of the scales were too challenging for everyday, typical users.
Using the suggestions that service providers and citizen users provided, the
researchers streamlined and changed the wording associated with observable variable
definitions to increase specificity, improve accessibility, and base them more upon actual
experience. Therefore, when the scales were revised, they were significantly more
appropriate for the study's outcomes. The scales for Information Quality originally had 7
observable variables; System Quality had 8; and Service Quality had 10. After the
revisions, they were reduced to 5 for Information Quality, 4 for System Quality, and 6 for
Service Quality.
The wording of the behavioral question was revised to say, “Since the merger of
portals (July 1, 2025), how many times have you utilized online public administrative
services searching the online Public Service Portal for information, setting up an online
identity account?” Including the specific date “after the merger” was significant because
according to Decree 118/2025/ND-CP, all the provincial public service portals were
merged (Government of Vietnam Web Portal, 2025). If this timeframe was not included,
most respondents would have answered based on pre-merger, fragmented systems,
therefore anchoring it to this specific time period will help ensure that the data collected
are very relevant to the existing system.
2.4.2. Quantitative research
Quantitative research is performed to determine how much experience with OPAS
affects respondents’ level of trust in e-government, and then to identify current areas of
difficulty with e-government use in Vietnam. Solutions for these issues are developed
from the analysis of the results.
Data for the quantitative analysis was collected using a structured survey developed
using primary data gathered from individuals who had previously used OPAS. The
respondents were identified through non-probability convenience sampling. While this
type of sampling method can limit the degree to which the sample represents the total
population, it provides many advantages for both feasibility and efficiency in the
collection of survey data (Etikan et al., 2016). According to Etikan et al. (2016), the
method’s limitations can be overcome by employing a large and demographically diverse
sample; therefore this method remains appropriate for the research objectives and
conditions. To reduce bias resulting from this sampling methodology, the research team
made a concerted effort to distribute the survey among respondents with a variety of
demographic characteristics (e.g., age ranges and geographic locations) to increase the
representativeness of the sample.

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