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 (4086)
- 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.
- The Impact of Events on Attitudes: Real-time Measurement; 2007; Stoop, I.
- 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.
- Forced response in online surveys: bias from reactance and an increase in sex-specific dropout; 2007; Stieger, S., Reips, U. -D., Voracek, M.
- The methodology of Internet-based experiments; 2007; Reips, U.-D.
- Sampling Bias in an International Internet Survey of Diversion Programs in the Criminal Justice System...; 2007; Hartford, K., Carey, R., Mendonca, J.
- Drop Downs and Scroll Mice: The Effect of Response Option Format and Input Mechanism Employed on Data...; 2007; Healey, B.
- Internet and written respiratory questionnaires yield equivalent results for adolescents; 2007; Raat, H., Mangunkusumo, R. T., Mohangoo, A. D., Juniper, E. F., Van Der Lei, J.
- Personalized salutation, power of sender and response rates to Web-based surveys; 2007; Joinson, A. N., Reips, U. -D.
- Dutch Online Panel Comparison Study (NOPVO); 2006; R. van Ossenbruggen; T. Vonk; P. Willems
- Migration Watch: an Internet survey to monitor spring migration in Britain and Ireland; 2006; Baillie, S. R., Balmer, D. E., Downie, I. S., Wright, K. H. M.
- Substance use and sexual behaviours of Japanese men who have sex with men: A nationwide internet survey...; 2006; Hidaka, Y., Ichikawa, S., Koyano, J., Urao, M., Yasuo, T., Kimura, H., Kihara, M., Ono-Kihara, M.
- Telephone versus Face-to-Face Interviewing: Mode Effects on Data Quality and Likely Causes. Report...; 2006; Jaeckle, A., Lynn, P., Roberts, C.,
- DADOS-Survey: an open-source application for CHERRIES-compliant Web surveys; 2006; Shah, A., Jacobs, D. O., Martins, H., Harker, M., Menezes, A., Harker, M., McCready, M., Pietrobon,...
- Snowball Sampling ; 2006; Berg, S.
- Introduction nonresponse bias in household surveys ; 2006; Singer, E.
- Essential Steps for Web Surveys: A Guide to Designing, Administering and Utilizing Web Surveys for University...; 2006; Cheskis-Gold, R., Loescher, R., Shepard-Rabadam, E., Carroll, B.
- Don't make me think: a common sense approach to web usability; 2006; Krug, S.
- The use of an Internet-based Ask the Doctor Service involving family physicians: evaluation by a web...; 2006; Umefjord, G., Hamberg, K., Malker, H., Petersson, G.
- A short introduction to usability in online surveys; 2006; Kaczmirek, L.
- Measuring task-specific perceptions of the world wide web ; 2006; Page-Thomas, K.
- Oversurveying: Causes, Consequences, and Cures; 2006; Weiner, S. P., Dalessio, A. T.
- Online Reporting: Real Time, Real Impact, Real Opportunities ; 2006; Barbera, K. M., Young, S.
- Online Surveys: Critical Issues in Using the Web to Conduct Surveys; 2006; Fenlason, K., Suckow-Zimberg, K.
- Getting Action from Organizational Surveys: New Concepts, Technologies, and Applications; 2006; Kraut, A. I.
- Survey Methodology; 2006; Nusser, S. M.