Web Survey Bibliography
This paper explores how the visual design of scalar questions influences responses in web surveys. We present the results of five experiments embedded in two web surveys of university students. We find that consistently presenting the positive end of the scale first did not impact responses but increases response times. Displaying the categories in multiple columns influence how respondents process the scale and increase response times. Separating the midpoint, ``don't know'' option, or endpoints spatially does not impact responses when the visual and conceptual midpoint align. Removing the graphical layout of the scale influences responses when lower numbers indicate more positive categories and increases response time. Finally, response times are longer for polar point scales with numeric labels, but there are no differences in responses. Overall, our results suggest that the visual design of response scales impacts measurement, but that some manipulations produce larger and more significant differences than others.
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Web survey bibliography - Sociological Methods & Research (15)
- Estimating the Impact of Measurement Differences Introduced by Efforts to Reach a Balanced Response...; 2017; Kappelhof, J. W. S.; De Leeuw, E. D.
- Taming Big Data: Using App Technology to Study Organizational Behavior on Social Media; 2015; Bail, C. A.
- The Use of a Nonprobability Internet Panel to Monitor Sexual and Reproductive Health in the General...; 2015; Legleye, S; Charrance, G.; Razafindratsima, N.; Bajos, N.; Bohet, A.; Moreau, C.
- The Impact of Mixing Modes on Reliability in Longitudinal Studies; 2014; Cernat, A.
- Panel Attrition - Separating Stayers, Fast Attriters, Gradual Attriters, and Lurkers; 2014; Lugtig, P. J.
- Asking Sensitive Questions: An Evaluation of the Randomized Response Technique Versus Direct Questioning...; 2013; Wolter, F.; Preisendoerfer, P.
- Measurement Effects of Survey Mode on the Equivalence of Attitudinal Rating Scale Questions; 2013; Klausch, L. T., Hox, J., Hox, J., Schouten, B.
- Not by the Book: Facebook as a Sampling Frame; 2012; Brickman Bhutta, C.
- Multiple Sources of Nonobservation Error in Telephone Surveys: Coverage and Nonresponse; 2011; Peytchev, A.; Carley-Baxter, L. R.; Black, M. C.
- Nonparametric Tests of Panel Conditioning and Attrition Bias in Panel Surveys; 2011; Das, M., Toepoel, V., van Soest, A.
- Introduction to the Special Issue on Web Surveys ; 2009; Witte, J. C.
- Smartphones: An Emerging Tool for Social Scientists; 2009; Raento, M., Oulasvirta, A., Eagle, N.
- Designing Scalar Questions for Web Surveys; 2009; Christian, L. M., Parsons, N. L., Dillman, D. A.
- Web-based network sampling - Efficiency and efficacy of respondent-driven sampling for online research...; 2008; Wejnert, C., Heckathorn, D. D.
- Feeling thermometers versus 7-point scales. Which are better?; 1997; Alwin, D. F.