Web Survey Bibliography
Online questionnaires are not very common yet in academic research, particularly not in middle or large scale surveys – mixed-mode strategies being an exception. This is to some degree due to methodical difficulties which are inherent in online surveys: A rather low response rate, an insufficient reachability of many populations and the non-existence of a reliable internal sampling frame to draw representative samples, e.g. a comprehensive email directory. However, these difficulties can be successfully addressed and resolved by “switching” during the surveying process from one mode to another - in our case from CATI (computer assisted telephone interviewing) to online surveying.
The case of a representative Swiss establishment survey about “cooperations with external training providers” serves as an example to demonstrate this. Online questionnaire and CATI are combined in this survey to overcome some of the weaknesses of the respective techniques. The national establishment register, which covers all active Swiss establishments, was used as sampling frame. The sampled establishments were then contacted by telephone in order to select an appropriate informant and a suitable training cooperation. During this CATI-interview informants received a link to an online questionnaire via email which asked detailed questions about the selected training cooperation. We intended to lead informants directly through the log-in procedure and to introduce them to the online questionnaire at the end of the CATI-interview.
Our procedure combines several advantages. First contact via telephone allows
* the use of an excellent sampling frame which makes a representative sampling possible,
* the controlled criterion-based selection of an appropriate informant by the CATI-interviewees,
* to deal with certain difficult or complex questions on the phone (as in this case the critical selection of a suitable cooperation with an external training provider)
* to increase the willingness to participate in the survey by adopting individual refusal conversion which yields to a higher response rate.
The use of an online questionnaire on the other side
* leads to cost savings,
* improves response quality for certain questions, where a visual representation of the questions and answers is helpful (e.g. rating questions) and
* makes it possible to provide respondents with a short and individually tailored questionnaire by using complex filters.
Experiences with this procedure are described in the presentation and some results concerning important points as online reachability of the establishments or informants, response rate, arising difficulties with the switch from CATI to online questionnaire as well as the evaluation of this procedure by the respondents are presented.
Online-Surveys werden in der wissenschaftlichen Forschung immer noch relativ selten für grössere Umfragen verwendet – und wenn doch, dann im Rahmen von Mixed-Mode-Strategien. Dies ist zum Teil auf einige spezifische methodische Schwierigkeiten von Online-Surveys zurückzuführen: Hierzu zählt vor allem die eher tiefe Rücklaufquote, die eingeschränkte (Online-)Erreichbarkeit je nach Population und das Nicht-Vorhandensein eines verlässlichen internen Sampling-Frames, etwa auf der Basis eines E-Mail-Directories. Diese Schwierigkeiten lassen sich aber gezielt angehen und lösen – indem von einer Datenerhebungsmethode (CATI – computer assisted telephone interviewing) zu einer anderen (Online-Erhebung) gewechselt wird.
Im Beitrag wird dies am Beispiel des Vorgehens bei einer für die Schweiz repräsentativen Unternehmensbefragung zur Zusammenarbeit mit externen Weiterbildungsanbietern aufgezeigt, welche Instrumente der Online-Erhebung mit CATI kombiniert. Dadurch können die Stärken der jeweiligen Methode genutzt und deren Schwächen überwunden werden. Als Sampling-Frame kam bei der Erhebung das nationale Unternehmensregister, welches sämtliche Unternehmen abdeckt, zum Zuge. Im nächsten Schritt wurden die auf dieser Grundlage gesampelten Unternehmen telefonisch kontaktiert, die passende firmeninterne Zielperson eruiert und eine passende Weiterbildungskooperation im Gespräch ausgewählt. Während dem Gespräch wurde den Zielpersonen via E-Mail ein Link zu einem Online-Fragebogen zugestellt, in dem diese ausführlich zur ausgewählten Weiterbildungskooperation befragt wurden. Wenn immer möglich wurden die Personen telefonisch in den Einstieg des Online-Fragebogen begleitet.
Die Vorteile eines Erstkontaktes via CATI sind, dass
* ein Sampling-Frame zur Verfügung steht, welches eine repräsentative Stichprobe ermöglicht,
* die telefonische Kontaktaufnahme eine kontrollierte Auswahl der Zielperson ermöglicht,
* „schwierige“ Fragen bzw. Auswahlentscheide (im vorliegenden Fall ein passende Beziehung zu einem Weiterbildungsanbieter, eine „Weiterbildungskooperation“) durch die CATI-Interviewer am Telefon begleitet durchgeführt werden kann und
* durch die telefonische Kontaktaufnahme die Teilnahmemotivation und damit die Response-Quote deutlich erhöht werden kann.
Auf der anderen Seite werden durch den Einsatz eines Online-Fragebogens
* Interviewer-Zeit und damit Kosten gespart,
* Fragen und Antworten werden den Antwortenden visuell präsentiert (was z.B. bei Beurteilungen oft von Vorteil ist) und
* erhalten die Antwortenden durch die ausgefeilten Filterführungsmöglichkeiten bei Online-Surveys einen individuell angepassten und entsprechend kürzeren Fragebogen. Da Unternehmen relativ heterogene Gebilde sind, ist dies ein unschätzbarer Vorteil.
Im Vortrag sollen die Erfahrungen mit dieser Vorgehensweise dargestellt und Resultate zu ausgewählten wichtigen Punkten präsentiert werden: Der Anteil der via E-Mail erreichbaren Unternehmen bzw. Zielpersonen, die Rücklaufquote, Schwierigkeiten beim Übergang von CATI zum Online-Fragebogen, sowie die Bewertung dieser Vorgehensweise durch die Befragten selbst.
General online research (GOR) 2008 (abstract)
Web Survey Bibliography (6374)
- The impact of gender in e-mailed survey invitations; 2009; Derham, P.
- Using interactive technology to improve online questionnaire design; 2009; Chen, T., Estrin, D.
- How Web 2.0 made a long survey more palatable; 2009; Hebard, A. J.
- Faster than a speeding survey: Part II: The physician's perspective; 2009; Maciolek, T., Palish, J.
- Faster than a speeding survey: Part I: Rules of the road for online research with physicians; 2009; Maciolek, T., Palish, J.
- An examination of strategies for panel-blending; 2009; Fallig, M. A., Allen, D.
- How do respondent behaviors and online sample quality affect measures of ad performance?; 2009; Bruzzone, D.
- The value of consistency auditing of online panels; 2009; Gittelmam, S. H., Trimarchi, E.
- 10 ways to keep your panel respondents happy; 2009; Hardy, N.
- Survey says: new tools aim to ensure the integrity of online surveys. ; 2009; Quenqua, D.
- Standard Definitions: Final Dispositions of Case Codes and Outcome Rates for Surveys 2009; 2009; The American Association for Public Opinion Research
- College Experiences Survey: Methodological Summary. Final Report; 2009; DesRoches, D., Hall, J. W., Santos, B.
- Survey Platform: A Factor Influencing Online Survey Delivery and Response Rate ; 2009; Nair, C. S., Adams, P.
- Conference interpreters and their self-representation: A worldwide web-based survey ; 2009; Zwischenberger, C.
- What are They Asking Me? A Web Survey Experiment on Question Clarity and Measurement Error; 2009; Faas, T., Kaczmirek, L., Lenzner, A.
- Some Practical Issues in Cell Phone Interviewing from a Phone Room Perspective; 2009; Best, J., Hugick, L
- Measurement Error in Cell Phone Surveys; 2009; Kennedy, C., Everett, S. E., Traugott, M. W.
- Improving Response Rates on Both Landline and Cell Surveys Through the Strategic Use of Caller ID; 2009; Dayton, J. J., Burns, E., Levinson, A., Freedner, N., Hannah, K., Tarallo, B.
- Cell Phone Mainly and Cell Phone Mostly: A Comparison of Two Approaches to Dual Frame Cell Phone and...; 2009; Boyle, J., Cantor, J.
- PDA vs. Computer Web Survey Respondents; 2009; Stapleton, C
- Using Audio Computer-Assisted Self-Interviewing and Interactive Voice Response to Measure Elder Mistreatment...; 2009; Beach, S., Schultz, M., Degenholtz, H., Castle, N., Rosen, J., Fox, A., Meisel, A., Morycz, R.
- Exploring Inherent Differences Between CARI and Non-CARI Interviews; 2009; Sage, A., Keating, M.
- The Use of Advance Contact, Monetary Incentives, and Lotteries to Increase Response Rates in a Web Survey...; 2009; Stevenson, J., Dykema, J., Day, D., Bonham, V., Sellers, S.
- The Effect of Email Invitation Subject Title and Text on Online Survey Completion Rates in Internet...; 2009; Kruse, Y., Thomas, M., Nukulkij, P., Callegaro, M.
- Words, Numbers and Visual Heuristics in Web Surveys: Is There a Hierarchy of Importance?; 2009; Toepoel, V., Dillman, D. A.
- Web of Caring: Development of Web-Survey Best Practices; 2009; Ballou, J., Roff, B.
- Cell-Only Adults Versus Cell-Mostly Adults: Does It Make a Difference in the Results; 2009; Battaglia, M. P., Frankel, M. R., Balluz, L. S.
- Shifting Samples: The Impact of Wireless Substitution on National Estimates in RDD Surveys; 2009; Hannah, K.
- The Coverage Bias of Mobile Web Surveys; 2009; Fuchs, M.
- Refined or Biased Opinions? Examining Self-Selected Participation in Deliberation and Post-Survey in...; 2009; Wang, R., Siu, A.
- Mechanisms of Nonresponse in Cell Phone Surveys; 2009; Kennedy, C., Everett, S. E., Traugott, M. W.
- The Introduction of a Cell Phone Oversample to the Ohio Family Health Survey: Covering the Undercovered...; 2009; Duffy, T., Iachan, R., Bausch, S., Muzzy, S., ZuWallack, R. S.
- Examining the Relationship Between Survey Response Elicitation Efforts, Response Motivation, and Satisficing...; 2009; Lee, G., Rao, K.
- An Experiment in Using Prepaid Cell Phones to Interview Households Without an Available Phone Number; 2009; Brooks, K., Jaszczak, A., Wooten, K.
- Conducting Virtual Survey Research: RTI’s Facility in the Online Community Second Life®; 2009; Dean, E., Hill, C.
- Dispositions and Outcome Rates in the “Face-to- Face/Internet Survey Platform" (the FFISP); 2009; Sakshaug, J. W., Tourangeau, K., Krosnick, J. A., Ackermann, A., Malka, A., Debell, M., Turakhia, C.
- Attrition in a Face-to-Face Recruited Internet Panel with Substantial Incentives; 2009; Malka, A., Krosnick, J. A., Ackermann, A., Debell, M., Turakhia, C.
- Lessons Learned About How to Accomplish Effective In- Person Recruitment of a Web-Equipped Survey Panel...; 2009; Ackermann, A., Krosnick, J. A., Turakhia, C., Debell, M., Malka, A., Jarmon, R.
- Comparing an Internet Panel Survey to Mail and Phone Surveys on “Willingness to Pay” for...; 2009; Grandjean, B. D., Taylor, P. A., Nelson, N. M.
- Comparison Study of Probability and Non-Probability Sample Surveys Conducted by Internet and Face to...; 2009; Yeager, D. S., Krosnick, J. A.
- Do They Mean What They Say? Efficacy Evaluation of Assigning Sample Members Without a Mode Preference...; 2009; Brown, S. M., Grigorian, K. H.
- Cost and Quality in Low-Cost Survey Alternatives: A Comparison of Mail Versus Web; 2009; Dutwin, D., Donelan, K.
- Online Opinions: A Pilot Study to Extend the UK's Social Data Collection Capabilities; 2009; Dunn, E.
- Text-Message Surveys: Results in a Flash; 2009; Uriell, Z. A., Clewis, E.
- Understanding the Political Distinctiveness of the Cell Phone Only Public; 2009; Ansolabehere, S., Schaffner, B. F.
- Inclusion of Mobile-Only Households in Canadian Television Ratings Panels; 2009; Arzumanian, N., Gray, D.
- Examining Cell-Only, Cell-Mainly and Landline-Mainly Populations in California; 2009; Lee, S.
- A Social Profile of the “Wireless-Only” and “Wireless- Mostly” Population; 2009; Barron, M., Wolter, K.
- The Effects of Web and Mail Mixed-Mode Approaches on Response Rates in a Survey of Physicians; 2009; McFarlane, E., Murphy, J., Olmsted, M. G., Severance, J.
- Mode Choice in a Longitudinal Mail/Web/Telephone Survey; 2009; Kovac, M., Rogers, B., Mooney, G., Trunzo, D.