© LOUIS COHEN, LAWRENCE MANION AND KEITH MORRISON INTERNET SURVEYS © LOUIS COHEN, LAWRENCE MANION AND KEITH MORRISON

STRUCTURE OF THE CHAPTER Internet-based surveys Advantages of Internet surveys Disadvantages of Internet surveys Constructing Internet-based surveys Ethical issues in Internet-based surveys Sampling in Internet-based surveys Improving response rates in Internet surveys Technological advances

ADVANTAGES OF INTERNET-BASED SURVEYS Many people can be reached. Cheap to administer. Quick to process results. Can reach difficult populations. Anonymity and non-traceability. Respondents can complete the questionnaire from home. Respondents can complete it at a time to suit themselves. Respondents can complete the survey over time. Complex skip-patterns can be created and organized by the computer, so that participants do not have to understand complicated instructions.

ADVANTAGES OF INTERNET-BASED SURVEYS The software can prompt respondents to complete missed items or to correct errors. Computer can check incomplete or inconsistent replies. For each screen, the computer can provide an on-screen indication of how much of the questionnaire has been completed. Reduction of researcher effects. Human error is reduced in entering and processing data. Additional features may make the survey attractive. Greater generalizability may be obtained as Internet users come from a wide and diverse population. Greater authenticity of responses may be obtained.

DISADVANTAGES OF INTERNET-BASED SURVEYS Not everyone has Internet access. Limited control over sampling. Ethics (e.g. traceability). Hardware and software problems. Expertise of respondents. Visual presentation takes on added significance. Limited number of lines per screen. People give a minimal response. Order effects (early responses affect later ones). People stop if it is too long or complicated.

DISADVANTAGES OF INTERNET-BASED SURVEYS Spam Computer expertise Sampling Abandonment and dropout Computer difficulties No interviewer Security, privacy and confidentiality Design matters Instructions and answering Time Response rates Misreporting Satisficing

DISADVANTAGES OF INTERNET-BASED SURVEYS Forced responses anger respondents Download speeds vary Response-order effects: respondents choose earlier rather than later items in a list (the primacy effect) Abandonment and dropout Computer difficulties No interviewer Security, privacy and confidentiality Design matters Instructions and answering Time Response rates

DESIGN ISSUES Free software is available The eyes focus on the screen whilst the hands often focus on the keyboard/mouse ‘Check-all-that-apply’ lists of factors have questionable reliability Internet surveys can be made more attractive than their paper-based counterparts, with graphics, fonts, colours etc., but: Slow browsers or long time to download the file The machine crashes before the file is downloaded Download speeds vary in different parts of the world and at different times of the day

DESIGN ISSUES Avoid giving a long list of instructions. Keep the response categories close to the question. Items located at the bottom of a page are more likely to elicit a non-response than items further up a page. Instructions near the bottom of a page are more likely to be overlooked.

DESIGN ISSUES Consider the capabilities and configurations of the respondents’ computers and the respondents themselves. Ensure that the layout/presentation of the survey will be the same across platforms, servers, browsers and respondents Avoid differences in the visual appearance of questions because of different computers, configurations, operating systems, screen displays and browsers. Enable the survey to run on computers, cellphones, iPads and other different devices. Ensure that security, confidentiality and privacy are in place. Start the web questionnaire with an interesting welcome screen that gives clear instructions on how to proceed, and contains information and a check box for informed consent. Provide a PIN number if you wish to limit access to those people in the sample.

DESIGN ISSUES Ensure that that first question can be seen in its entirety on the first screen, and is easy to understand and complete. Embed visual images in a survey. Place interest-based questions early. Ensure that the layout of each question is similar to a paper format, as respondents may be familiar with this. Ensure consistency in colours, fonts, layout. Keep the line length short, to fit screen size and respondent focus.

DESIGN ISSUES Minimize the use of drop-down boxes. Give clear instructions for how to move through the questionnaire. Keep instructions at the point where the action is needed. Avoid forced responses (requiring respondents to answer each question before being able to move on to the next question/screen). Ensure that questionnaires move easily from question to question. If multiple choices are presented, keep them to a single screen.

DESIGN ISSUES Consider a progress bar to indicate how far the respondent has reached in the survey. Avoid ‘tick-all-those-that-apply’ kinds of question. Enable respondents to save their survey and complete it later, and to keep their own copy (backup) of their completed survey. Have a ‘thank you’ screen for when the respondent submits the completed survey. Provide a ‘help’ button for further explanation and contact details of the researcher.

ETHICS Informed consent Anonymity What are public and private data? Privacy and confidentiality Non-traceability Protection from harm The precautionary principle Data security

SAMPLING An unrestricted sample A screened sample A recruited sample Anyone can complete the questionnaire A screened sample Quotas are placed on the sub-sample categories and types A recruited sample Respondents complete a preliminary classification questionnaire and then, based on the data received, are recruited or not. Sampling bias Over-representation/under-representation How to estimating the size and nature of the population from which the sample is drawn Volunteer samples are often biased

IMPROVING RESPONSE RATES: THE ‘HIGH HURDLE’ APPROACH Seriousness inform the participants that the research is serious and rigorous Personalization ask for an e-mail address or contact details and personal information Impression of control inform participants that their identity is traceable Patience: Loading Time use image files to reduce loading time of web pages Patience: Long Texts place most of the text in the first page, and successively reduce the amount on each subsequent page

IMPROVING RESPONSE RATES: THE ‘HIGH HURDLE’ APPROACH Duration inform participants how long the survey will take Privacy inform participants that some personal information will be sought Preconditions indicate the requirements for particular software Technical Pretests conduct tests of compatibility of software Rewards indicate that any rewards/incentives are contingent on full completion of the survey

EASY-TO-ANSWER METHODS Radio buttons Yes/no questions Multiple-choice questions (select one by using a radio button) Multiple choice questions (select an exact number or as many as you wish) A matrix of multiple questions with the same response scales (e.g. rating scales) Horizontal scales preferable to vertical scale Drop-down lists with a single choice

TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES Smartphones and mobile phone optimization. Increasing user-friendliness. Improved compatibility. Integration between devices. Same survey can be delivered in multiple formats to different devices. Huge and rapid increase in the range and types of mobile devices for accessing the Internet almost anywhere in the world and at any time.

TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES Real-time communication. Location software. Improvements to presentational and response software. Increasing speed and connectivity. Cloud computing. Storage facilities for massive amounts of data. Apps for everything. Social networking sites.