Going online — experiences with a web survey

Journal of Official Statistics

2007

Questionnaires are an inexpensive way to gather data from a potentially large number of respondents. However, it is a long and effort consuming process to conduct the survey manually. As the popularity of the Internet increases, online survey creation software allows an access to individuals in distant locations, the ability to reach difficult to contact participants, and the convenience of having automated data collection, which reduces researcher time and effort. The aim of this study is to develop an Online Questionnaire Builder (OQB), which is an online survey software package to streamline and simplify the entire survey process from design of the questionnaire to the presentation of the results. OQB consists of an intuitive wizard interface for creating surveys, tools for distributing the surveys and analyzing the results. This paper presents the results of our preliminary study. By studying wide numbers of existing surveys, we came up with practical guidelines that should be met before a questionnaire can be considered a sound research tool. The guidelines presented in terms of structure, layout, navigation, formatting, response format and question types. It is expected, with the specified guidelines, OQB will be a useful and automated online application for creating and distributing surveys for the use of researchers or any scholars.

The 6th Mediterranean Conference on Information Systems, 2011

Web surveying is growing in acceptance and use. However, web-based surveys appear to have lower response rates than traditional mail surveys. That may be the result of ineffective strategies for web survey implementation. This work puts together a set of important aspects to be taken into account through several phases of web survey implementation. The resulting framework has been developed to guide researchers in building a successful web survey implementation and is structured in terms of software tool selection, questionnaire design and survey administration phases. Research foundations and delivery concerns are also included in a framework to guide researchers in building an instrument able to increase response rates. Particular attention is given to key design practices under the evidence of their contribution for a successful web surveying implementation.

2011

2020

Introduction: The availability of a wide range of tools for collecting data through online surveys (e-surveys) offers new opportunities for users to choose them. However, it also makes the choice process more difficult. It becomes relevant to map the best existing tools and analyze them through the lens of uniform objective criteria. Method: It carries out an exploratory search, based on secondary data, to map the existing e-survey tools. It creates an analysis grid and applies to 15 tools selected from the initial mapping. After, it applies a grid of comparative evaluation and scoring to 10 tools chosen from the 15 analyzed . Results: It provides a systematic and updated survey of the existing e-survey tools and it presents a scored evaluation of its main features. It summarizes the main characteristics and functionalities of the three best-rated tools (SurveyMonkey, SurveyGizmo and SoGoSurvey), providing potential users with relevant data to make an informed choice. Conclusions: I...

2007

This paper presents a guideline for web survey design and implementation. The main objective is to suggest a group of recommendations which may guide a researcher through the process of planning, designing, implementing and conducting a web survey for empirical research purposes. The standards for web surveys are still developing the various implementation possibilities making hard to compare and evaluate their effects on participation in issues as behaviour, data quality and all sorts of survey errors, that is why this brief guide does not claim to be an exhaustive compilation of all noteworthy guidelines; it is just a guide of practical recommendations for empirical research.

iadis.net

The rapid development of Internet has given birth to a new era in survey methodology - an era of electronic data collection. Internet offers important advantages for survey research activity but has at the same time some drawbacks that can put at risk survey validity. This ...

Journal of Internet Commerce, 2008

The use of the Internet and online methods for data collection brings about new challenges for academic and managerial researchers. Our objective is to advance our level of knowledge regarding online data collection through an experiment. Using a local organization's e-mail list, we evaluate survey introductory elements such as invitation from a known leader and introductory length. We evaluate resulting levels of response rate, response quality, and respondent satisfaction to assess the effects of modified survey introductory designs. Findings reveal that an invitation from a known leader leads to improved levels of response quality while shorter introductions result in a quicker response from survey participants.

1999

There can be little doubt that the number of surveys being conducted over the World Wide Web is increasing dramatically. The ability to collect large amounts of data without interviewers, stationery or postage, and to process answers without separate data entry, makes the cost of doing web surveys very attractive (Witt, 1998). The prospects of moving into an era of web surveying are in other respects, quite sobering. Although the number of individuals with web access is increasing rapidly, in October, 1997, only 37% of U.S. households reported owning a computer, up from 24 % in 1994. A total of 17% had e-mail connections, compared to only 3% in 1994. (National Telecommunications and Information Administration, 1998) 2. Therefore, substantial coverage problems exist for most household web surveys. Access is higher when considered without reference to households. For example, a series of five CBS News/New York Times Polls conducted by telephone from March to November 1998 reported that 67% of respondents had "access to a computer" and 31% "had an e-mail address through which you can send or receive electronic mail messages by computer." (Frankovich, 1998). Even these higher numbers are much too small to facilitate general public surveys. Although certain survey populations have nearly 100% access to e-mail, e.g. employees of certain organizations, most do not. And, among those who do have such access, means must be found to ensure a known probability of selection for each potential respondent. Unfortunately the challenges do not end here. Computer literacy varies greatly among people, as does the processing power of their computers. Screen configurations and connection speeds also influence how people can access and respond to web surveys. In addition, the means of displaying survey questions on computer screens may have a profound effect on whether some people are able and/or willing to answer survey questions accurately.