Web Survey Bibliography
In the field of online research, and particularly with respect to online access panels, the amount of information the research institute should provide its respondents with when sending out invitations is still discussed quite controversially.
On the one hand, revealing too many details holds the risk of self-selection among potential participants. Furthermore, if the topic is explained, experienced panellists only interested in incentives might adjust their answers to the screening questions in order to take part in every possible survey. Such behaviour is likely to cause untrue statements and bias in the studies’ results.
On the other hand, not including enough information in invitations involves the risk of potential participants deciding not to take part in a survey as they are, for instance, unsure about the incentives or the amount of time they have to invest in order to complete the questionnaire.
Consequently, the following questions arise:
Is it sufficient to just inform the panel members that there is a questionnaire waiting for completion? Should information on the length of the survey, the field time and the incentives paid for completion be included in the email? Or would it even benefit the response and results to announce the topic of the survey?
The lecture aims at eliciting answers to these questions.
It is based on an empirical study including about 30 experiments with 1000 respondents each. In the course of this study, the invitation-emails were systematically varied, and the different response rates were monitored.
The information content of the emails was differentiated in a way that one part of the panellists always received a mail containing extensive information about the study, whilst two additional groups either received information regarding the questionnaire’s length and the incentive or were informed about the topic of the survey. A last group finally obtained an invitation only including a link to the questionnaire but no additional information describing the survey at all.
The analysis of the projects realised aims at identifying and presenting the optimal information content of email- invitations for online surveys.
Conference homepage (abstract)
Web survey bibliography - General Online Research Conference (GOR) 2009 (54)
- Conducting Mobile Surveys: A Hands-on Introduction to an Innovative Research Mode; 2009; Pferdekämper, T., Melcher, T.
- Empirical Evaluation of Web Survey Software Tools: Powerful or Friendly?; 2009; Vehovar, V., Berzelak, N., Lozar Manfreda, K., Horvat, T., Debevc, M.
- Qualitative Research via Internet: Asynchronous Online Discussions and the Use of WebCT; 2009; Giatsi Clausen, M., Nicol, M., Gill, J.
- Representativeness of Mobile Internet Surveys - A comparative study of CAMI vs. CATI ; 2009; Maier, U., Neubarth, W., Grosser, A., Hombach, A.
- The use of online data-collection in financial services market measurement research : the FRS experience...; 2009; Cooke, M., Watkins, N.
- Using flash type questions – stroke of luck or curse for data quality?; 2009; Laufer, S., Klapproth, U., Noll, S.
- Pause Mechanism in Complex Online Surveys; 2009; Milewski, J.
- Response Formats in Cross-cultural Comparisons in Web-based Surveys; 2009; Thomas, R. K.l, Terhanian, G., Funke, F.
- Generic or Project-Specific Mail? – The Influence of Invitations on Response Behaviour in the...; 2009; Schroll, S.
- Relevance Of Health-Related Online-Information In Offline- And Online-Samples; 2009; Stetina, B. U., McElheney, J., Lehenbauer, M., Hinterberger, E., Pintzinger, N., Kryspin-Exner, I.
- Data Collection online: Can do, must (not) do, Should do; 2009; Diesner, J., Gadeib, A., Lüttschwager, F., Sassinot-Uny, L.
- Three Different Designs of Type Ranking‐Questions; 2009; Sackl, A.
- Usability of Mobile Surveys; 2009; Tarkus, A.
- Gay and Lesbian People: The Use of Online Communication Services; 2009; Lehenbauer, M., Stetina, B. U., Kryspin-Exner, I.
- An Online Study on Coping with Anxiety and Disease-Specific Internet Use in Panic Attack Sufferers; 2009; König, D., Hiebler, C., Kryspin-Exner, I.
- Distortion of demographics through technically induced dropout in restricted online surveys; 2009; Voracek, M., Stieger, S., Goeritz, A.
- An Internet-based Study on Coping with Illness and Attitudes towards Online Health Care in Cancer Patients...; 2009; Setz, J., König, D., Kryspin-Exner, I.
- WebEXEC: A Short Self-Report Measure of Executive Function Suitable for Administration via the Internet...; 2009; Buchanan, T., Heffernan, T. M., Parrott, A. C., Ling, J., Rodgers, J., Scholey, A. B.
- Let's go formative: Continuous student ratings with Web 2.0 application Twitter; 2009; Burger, C., Stieger, S.
- Don't know and no opinion responses in Web surveys; 2009; Mechling, J., Baker, R. P., Couper, M. P.
- Mixed Methods in Online Research; Conceptualisation and Future Research Agenda; 2009; Koller, M., Sinitsa, E.
- Market Research Online and Offline - Differences in output and processing of Qualitative Online and...; 2009; Knorr, H., Krischke-Ramaswamy, M.
- Informal Learning in Virtual Communities. Individual Practice between Information Retrieval, Observation...; 2009; Kahnwald, N.
- Self-Efficacy Of Online Health Seekers; 2009; Stetina, B. U., Schramel, C., Lehenbauer, M., Schawill, W., Kryspin-Exner, I.
- Volumetric Forecast based on Online Access Panels; 2009; Rodenhausen, T., Drewes, F.
- How representative are sentiments expressed in social media for the marketing target audience? A comparison...; 2009; Jarchow, C., Thomas, J.
- SNB - Social Network Barometer; 2009; Drosdow, M., Geißler, H.
- Payments via Paypal as an Incentive in Online Panels; 2009; Goeritz, A., Wolff, H.-G., Goldstein, D. G.
- Advertising Effects of Online Video Ads; 2009; Wolf, M., Schönfeldt, J.
- Online election forecasts; 2009; Faas, T., Geißler, H.
- Propensity Score Adjustment for Web Survey of Voting Behavior: A Case in Japan; 2009; Kobayashi, T.
- Why Do I Use the Social Web?” Exploring the Motives of Active and Passive Users via Focus Groups...; 2009; Jers, C., Taddicken, M., Schenk, M.
- Diffusion of Mobile Services Adoption in Taiwan; 2009; Doong, H.-S., Wang, H.-C.
- Verbal Vs Visual Response Options: Reconciling Meanings Conveyed by a Computer Aided Visual Rating Scale...; 2009; Garland, P., Cape, P.
- Increasing response rates in list based samples; 2009; Keusch, F., Kurz, H., Penzkofer, P.
- Resolving the Privacy Paradox? - How Privacy Concerns, Strategic Self-presentation, and Norms Influence...; 2009; Utz, S.
- AGOF internet facts – increasing the response rate for onsite-surveys; 2009; Foerstel, H.
- Implementation of a reaction time tool for brand measurement at Swisscom; 2009; Paar, I., Urbahn, J.
- It’s all about customer satisfaction - Advantages and limitations of online surveys in applied...; 2009; Einhorn, M., Klein-Reesink, T., Löffler, M.
- Potential Of The Mobile Internet - What You Ask Is What You Get; 2009; Neubarth, W., Maier, U., Geißlitz, A.
- Measuring Network Quality: Strengths and Weaknesses of different Evaluation Methods (SMS, w@p and web...; 2009; Wallisch, A., Schwab, H.
- Challenges in Recruiting Special Groups in Internet Panel Research; 2009; Marchand, M., Vis, C.
- Panel Conditioning in Web Surveys: A Comparison between Trained and Fresh Respondents; 2009; Toepoel, V., Das, M., van Soest, A.
- Using Tag Clouds to Analyse and Visualise Results of Open Ended Questions; 2009; Melles, T., Jaron, R.
- Measuring Perceived Virtual Social Support in Online Self-Help Groups; 2009; Preiß, H.
- Personalization as Strategy to Increase Response Rates; 2009; Althoff, S.
- Understanding the willingness to participate in mobile surveys: Exploring the role of hedonic, affective...; 2009; Bosnjak, M., Metzger, G.
- Integrating Mobile Surveys into digital market research: Recommendations for Mobile Panel operation...; 2009; Friedrich-Freksa, M., de Groote, Z., Metzger, G.
- Measurement options, measurement error, and usability in mobile surveys; 2009; Pferdekämper, T., Bosnjak, M., Metzger, G.
- Visual Heuristics and Answer Formats in Rating Scales; 2009; Toepoel, V. Dillman, D. A.