Web Survey Bibliography
Porsche AG has been conducting a customer satisfaction study in sales and after sales for many years. The satisfaction survey is conducted worldwide. It used to be a mail only survey. Step by step Porsche provided its customers with an online op¬tion. Customers are first contacted with a mail questionnaire and can than choose whether they send back the mail questionnaire or answer via online-questionnaire.
This procedure provides Porsche with unique samples. First, these samples consist of up to 6.500 real customers per year in the US and up to 7.000 real customers per year in Germany. Secondly, the samples provide an unique international comparison of on- and offline differences. Third, it allows for comparisons in different years and time series analysis. Fourth, by strictly focussing Porsche drivers the study addresses a target group which is not open for general market research and highly representative for premium and luxury goods.
Based on these large international sample sizes the presentation clearly illustrates that:
1) Online results are as reliable and valid as offline results, without exception for the US and with minor limitations for Germany.
2) Over time reliability and validity (Herrmann et al. 2008; Heidbrinck 2006) has improved for most questions.
3) Online surveys provide additional practical and methodological advantages: Online respondents give more complete and more detailed information. Thus online answers tend to be less biased by missing values than mail surveys (Decker/Wagner 2008).
4) In the US there is no difference between online and mail respon¬dents. In Germany online respondents are more modern and therefore more appropriate for most future oriented studies.
The presentation addresses needs and interests of applied research on client side and also provides beneficial insights for other researchers about reliability, validity and usefulness of online research in business contexts.
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