Technological advancements opened new possibilities for survey research, and Internet surveys are probably the most revolutionizing contemporary innovation in this field. They have already become an important tool for a variety of survey research practices, including marketing and social research, as well as official statistics. Convenience of self-administration, computerization and Internet-based data transfer substantially broadens the potentials of survey research. This is especially highlighted within the possibilities of advanced questionnaire features, inclusion of multimedia elements, remote survey management, multiple devices and lowering of the research costs. Benefits and logic of Internet surveys are also increasingly being adopted in other research areas, including psychological research, e-learning, e-government, and other developing and emerging fields. Nevertheless, further expansion and development of technologies is needed to enable the utilization of the full range of Internet survey potentials. As Internet and related communication technologies become available across the general population as a whole, problems of coverage will be easier to overcome, particularly because future development of mobile devices will allow a much higher degree of their use for survey research. Technological progress will also continuously foster the globalization of suppliers (software, services), the integration with other approaches (qualitative, off-line measurement, observations), and combining data from different sources and devices. As for now, serious methodological issues of Internet surveys persist. In addition to coverage, sampling and nonresponse problems, these also arise from the lack of comprehensive knowledge on the most appropriate design and implementation, particularly in relation to multiple devices (e.g. mobile phones, tablet, interactive TV). As methodological research on these topics continues, it is likely that new standards for Internet surveying will emerge, which will in particular address various privacy and ethical dilemmas.
COBISS.SI-ID: 34558813
The book, published by one of the leading publishers of scientific literature, guides the reader through twenty years of research in web survey methodology. It provides practical guidance on the latest techniques for collection high-quality survey data and offers a comprehensive overview of research issues. It systematically and insightfully covers the core topics of web survey methodology, including questionnaire preparation, design and testing, recruitment, analysis, and survey software. The reader is exposed to key concepts and findings in the literature, covering measurement and non-response problems, adjustments, paradata and cost aspects. The book also discusses the most challenging topics of web survey methodology today, such as internet panels and mobile web surveys.
COBISS.SI-ID: 33367389
Computers play an important role in everyday multitasking. Within this context, we focus on respondent multitasking (RM) in web surveys. RM occurs when users engage in other activities while responding to a web survey questionnaire. The conceptual framework is built on existing literature on multitasking, integrating knowledge from both cognitive psychology and survey methodology. Our main contribution is a new approach for measuring RM in web surveys, which involves an innovative use of the different types of paradata defined as non-reactive electronic tracks concerning respondents' process of answering the web questionnaire. In addition to using questionnaire page completion time as a measure of RM, we introduce "focus-out" events that indicate when respondents have left the window containing the web questionnaire (e.g., to chat, email, browse) and then returned. The approach was tested in an empirical study using a web survey on a student sample (n=267). The results indicate that 60% of respondents have multitasked at least once. In addition, they reveal that item nonresponse as an indicator of response quality is associated with RM, while non-differentiation is not. Although this study confirms that a paradata-based approach is a feasible means of measuring RM, future research on this topic is warranted.
COBISS.SI-ID: 33672285
Research into cognitive aspects of survey response has indicated unfamiliar terms as one of the psycholinguistic determinants of question comprehensibility problems. In this paper the estimates of wording familiarity based on text corpora for the English and Slovenian languages were used to detect potentially incomprehensible wordings in two web survey questionnaires for international exchange students at the University of Ljubljana, one for incoming (English) and the other for outgoing students (Slovenian). Two versions of the questionnaire were developed for each language, one with low-frequency (complex) and the other with high-frequency (improved) wordings, and compared in a split-ballot experiment. The results show a lower drop-out rate and a decreased subjective perception of difficulty for the improved language versions.
COBISS.SI-ID: 33807709
The study elaborated the use of web surveys with incentives as part of a mixed-mode survey design as an alternative to conventional face-to face and telephone surveys. It developed and demonstrated an approach to assessment of various survey designs with simultaneous consideration of survey errors and costs. The main idea of this approach is that part of the cost savings enabled by the web mode can be allocated to incentives and complementary survey modes to compensate for the internet non-coverage and the higher nonresponse. The described approach was demonstrated in an experimental case study that compared the performance of mixed-mode designs with the web mode and prepaid cash incentive with that of an official survey conducted using the face-to-face and telephone modes. The results show that the mixed-mode designs with the web mode and incentives can greatly increase the response rate, but that higher response rate does not necessary translate to higher data quality.
COBISS.SI-ID: 33791325