Web Survey Bibliography
Background: Attrition, or dropout, is a problem faced by many online health interventions, potentially threatening the inferential value of online randomized controlled trials.
Objective: In the context of a randomized controlled trial of an online weight management intervention, where 85% of the baseline participants were lost to follow-up at the 12-month measurement, the objective was to examine the effect of nonresponse on key outcomes and explore ways to reduce attrition in follow-up surveys.
Methods: A sample of 700 nonrespondents to the 12-month online follow-up survey was randomly assigned to a mail or telephone nonresponse follow-up survey. We examined response rates in the two groups, costs of follow-up, reasons for nonresponse, and mode effects. We ran several logistic regression models, predicting response or nonresponse to the 12-month online survey as well as predicting response or nonresponse to the follow-up survey.
Results: We analyzed 210 follow-up respondents in the mail and 170 in the telephone group. Response rates of 59% and 55% were obtained for the telephone and mail nonresponse follow-up surveys, respectively. A total of 197 respondents (51.8%) gave reasons related to technical issues or email as a means of communication, with older people more likely to give technical reasons for noncompletion; 144 (37.9%) gave reasons related to the intervention or the survey itself. Mail follow-up was substantially cheaper: We estimate that the telephone survey cost about US $34 per sampled case, compared to US $15 for the mail survey. The telephone responses were subject to possible social desirability effects, with the telephone respondents reporting significantly greater weight loss than the mail respondents. The respondents to the nonresponse follow-up did not differ significantly from the 12-month online respondents on key outcome variables.
Conclusions: Mail is an effective way to reduce attrition to online surveys, while telephone follow-up might lead to overestimating the weight loss for both the treatment and control groups. Nonresponse bias does not appear to be a significant factor in the conclusions drawn from the randomized controlled trial.
Journal of medical internet research (full text)
Web survey bibliography - 2007 (157)
- The design of electronic questionnaires: insights from the practice Afonso; 2007; Afonso, P.
- Using Multiple Modes to Collect Data in Surveys; 2007; Lynn, P.
- Intent to stay of nursing faculty in the southern United States; 2007; Garbee, D. D.
- Flexible online mixed methods design (FOMM): Philosophical and practical considerations; 2007; Lobe, B.
- Teaching and learning mixed methods research online; 2007; Ivankova, N., Verhoeven, F.
- Intention to Participate in Web Surveys: An Extended TPB Model; 2007; Fang, J., Shao, P., Wan, J.
- Interactive Features of Web Surveys; 2007; Conrad, F. G.
- The Online Measurement of Ego Centered Online Social Networks; 2007; Matzat, U., Snijders, C.
- Systematic bias between internet and mail surveys: Implication for scaling of conjoint questions; 2007; Huttin, C. C., Fadden, D. L., Winter, J.
- When epidemiology meets the internet: Web-based surveys in the millennium cohort study ; 2007; Smith, B., Smith, T. C., Gray, G. C., Ryan, M. A. K.
- Guidelines for Designing Questionnaires for Administration in Different Modes; 2007; Martin, E., Hunter, J. E., DeMaio, T., Hill, Jo., Reiser, C., Gerber, E., Styles, K., Dillman, D. A.
- A preliminary study of electronic surveys as a means to enhance management accounting research; 2007; Al-Omiri, M.
- An Approach to Compare Online Survey Generating Tools; 2007; Zhang, J., Zhao, N.
- Surfable Surveys: Using Web-Based Technology to Reach Newsroom Respondents ; 2007; Adams, T., Cleary, J.
- Online Data Collection in Academic Research: Advantages and Limitations; 2007; Lefever, S., Dal, M., Matthiasdottir, A.
- Conducting the Survey; 2007; Ritter, L. A., Sue, V. M.
- Email Surveys in Educational Research: Ethical and Net-Cultural Concerns; 2007; Nguyen, C. H.
- The Consumer Panel Reinvented; 2007; Fielding, M.
- Data Preservation; 2007; Wyner, G. A.
- Questionnaire and Survey Design for Online Research; 2007; Wydra, D., Fisher, L., Strunk, K.
- The Impact of the Visible: The Design of Web Surveys; 2007; Tourangeau, R., Couper, M. P., Conrad, F. G.
- Web survey paradata: Understanding respondent’s behavior and evaluating survey questions; 2007; Heerwegh, D.
- How the shape and format of input fields affect answer; 2007; Couper, M. P., Tourangeau, R., Conrad, A.
- Sampling Bias: Face to face to Web; 2007; Bandilla, W., Blohm, M., Kaczmirek, L., Neubarth, W.
- Experiments on non- response in internet- based research; 2007; Reips, U.-D.
- Using Technology to Improve Data Quality; 2007; Cunningham, J., Pearson, C., Parkhurst, D.
- Mobile Phone Data Collection; 2007; Lavine, S.
- A Study on Technical and Cultural Differences in Survey Methodology Between Japan and the United States...; 2007; Matsumoto, W.
- Effects of Offering Web Questionnaires as an Option in Enterprise Surveys: the Swedish Experience; 2007; Erikson, J., Furubjelke, E.
- Using the Web for Surveys of Medical Providers; 2007; Narayanan, V., Giambo, P., Fry, S., Crafts, J.
- Calibration and Propensity Score Weighting in Web Surveys; 2007; Fabrizi, E., Biffignandi, S.
- Boosting Response Rates: Are There Optimal Times to Email Respondents?; 2007; Bennett-Harper, S., O'Brien, J., Levin, K., Davis, B., Shipp, S., Campbell, S., Sienkiewicz, R.
- Beyond Demographics: Are ‘Webographic’ Questions Useful for Reducing the Selection Bias...; 2007; Schonlau, M., van Soest, A., Kapteyn, A.
- Maximising respondent engagement: The use of rich media; 2007; Reid, J., Morden, M., Perez Echeverria, A.
- Truth in measurement: Comparing Web Based interviewing Techniques; 2007; Couper, M. P., Terhanian, G., Bremer, J., Thomas, R. K.
- How Demographic Characteristics Affect Mode Preference in a Postal/Web Mixed-Mode Survey of Australian...; 2007; Diment, K., Garrett-Jones, S.
- Response rate and completeness of questionnaires: A randomized study of internet versus Paper-and-Pencil...; 2007; Holm- Christensen, K., Hjollund, H. N., Basnov, M., Kongsved, S. M.
- Following Up Nonrespondents to an Online Weight Management Intervention: Randomized Trial Comparing...; 2007; Couper, M. P., Peytchev, A., Strecher, V., Rothert, K., Anderson, K. J.
- First Experiences with Internet Surveying in the German Socio-Economic Panel; 2007; Wagner, G. G., Schupp, J., Schraepler, J.-P., Siegel, N.
- Compare and contrast - Study looks at online vs. offline multicultural research; 2007; Farrar, T., Schwartz, N., Mayor, N., Anthony, D., Faas, T.
- Best practices for online qualitative research; 2007; Stevens, B.
- Mixing Web and Mail Methods in a Survey of Physicians; 2007; Beebe, T. J., Locke, G. R., Davern, M. E., Anderson, K. J., Barnes, S. A.
- Development and Analysis of Joint Internet-Telephone Hunter Surveys; 2007; Lukacs, P. M.
- Reducing Nonresponse by SMS Reminders in Mail Surveys; 2007; Virtanen, V., Sirkiä, T., Jokiranta, V. Sirkia, T.
- The Reporting of Nonresponse Analyses in Survey Research; 2007; Werner, S., Praxedes, M., de Rouvray, C., Kim, H. G.
- Using Text Messages in U.S. Mobile Phone Surveys ; 2007; Steeh, C. G., Buskirk, T. D., Callegaro, M.
- Testing for the survey mode effect on contingent valuation data quality: A case study of web based versus...; 2007; Marta-Pedroso, C., Freitas, H., Domingos, T.
- Dynamic Forms: Online Surveys 2.0 ; 2007; Funke, F., Reips, U.-D.
- Do Tailored Messages of Encouragement Reduce Web Survey Break-offs?; 2007; Sakshaug, J. W., Crawford, S. D., Inkelas, K. K.
- Compensating for low topic interest and long surveys: A field experiment on nonresponse in Web surveys...; 2007; Marcus, B., Bosnjak, M., Lindner, S., Pilischenko, S., Schuetz, A.