Web Survey Bibliography
Theoretical background. Since approximately ten years, telephone surveys in Germany belong to the most frequently used survey modes in the social sciences, which is especially due to its low costs compared with e.g. face
‐to‐face surveys and its high flexibility concerning organization and conduct (ADM 2008). However, these advantages are increasingly opposed by declining response rates in academic as well as commercial surveys. Over time, response rates have steadily diminished, whereas different sources partly supply highly diverse figures: some report on response rates below 40 percent, some on rates around 70 percent (cf. Berinsky 2008, 309f; De Leeuw & De Heer 2002; Schnell, Hill & Esser 1999, 286ff.). The key explanations are non‐contact and refusals (Berinsky 2008, 310; Lavrakas 2008, 252). Our own surveys reveal that non‐contact as well as refusal rates rose within the last five years about 5‐10 percentage points, whereby the rates differ from survey to survey. While in September 2003 29 percent of all households could not be reached, in May 2008 that was the case regarding 44 percent of the households. And while in September 2003 31 percent of the interviewees refused, 43 percent did so in February 2008. Literature suggests numerous explanations for both phenomena. Non‐contact occurs e.g. because of increased mobility or the absence of a landline telephone in households (cf. Pew 2008). In Germany, around 5‐7 percent of the population do not have landline telephones but only cell phones (cf. Hunsicker & Schroth 2007). If this trend continues, telephone surveys on the basis of landlines cannot be regarded as being representative anymore. Refusals occur e.g. because of over‐surveying, insufficient trust in survey institutes or lack of time (vgl. Schnauber & Daschmann 2008). Against this background, the question arises whether telephone surveys are still feasible in the long run. First, it is possible that the non‐response is systematic and biases the survey results, which hence (as mentioned above) cannot be interpreted as being representative anymore (Schnauber & Daschmann 2008, 98). Second, the resolution of the problems or the change to another survey mode (e.g. inclusion of cell phones) would trigger high additional costs. Nevertheless, there are some approaches to meet these obstacles. By modifying e.g. the call time or the number of call attempts, the number of contacts could be improved. By altering the introductory phrases and by enhancing the professionalism of the interviewers, e.g. by extensive training, one could try to reduce refusal rates (cf. Meier, Schneid, Stegemann & Stiegler 2005). ‐term telephone surveys conducted at our department yield a huge data basis to answer the questions deduced above. On the one hand, we aim to analyze the difficulty of decreasing response rates and hence the decreasing quality of the surveys. On the other hand, we pursue the question as to whether the theoretically derived explanations for non‐contact and refusals can be confirmed by our empirical data. In summary, we try to answer the question as to whether telephone survey will still be feasible in the future or not.
Method and conduct. Long
Conference homepage (abstract)
Web survey bibliography (4086)
- The Effects of the Initial Mode of Contact on the Response Rate and Data Quality in an Internet-Based...; 2009; Wiseman, F.
- Doing Research in the Real World; 2009; Gray, D. E.
- Conducting Mobile Surveys: A Hands-on Introduction to an Innovative Research Mode; 2009; Pferdekämper, T., Melcher, T.
- Internet-based surveys and urban design education: A community outreach graduate project in Redding,...; 2009; del Rio, V., Levi, D.
- Exploration of secondary students’ creativity by integrating web-based technology into an innovative...; 2009; Jang, S.-J.
- An experimental mixed mode design on a general population survey ; 2009; Eva, G.
- Declining Working Phone Rates Impact Sample Efficiency; 2009; Piekarski, L.
- Using Non-Probability Samples for Confusion Surveys - Mall Intercepts and the Internet; 2009; Ericksen, E. P.
- Using Debit Cards for Incentive Payments: Experiences of a Weekly Survey Study; 2009; Gatny, H. H., Couper, M. P., Axinn, W., Barber, J. S.
- Characteristics of Cell Phone Only, Listed, and Unlisted Telephone Households; 2009; Tarnai, J., Schultz, R., Moore, D.
- Cell Phone-Only Households: A Good Target for Internet Surveys?; 2009; Bates, N.
- Nonsampling Error Research in Practice; 2009; Brick, J. M., Kalton, G.
- Total Survey Error: Past, Present, Future; 2009; Groves, R. M.
- Envisioning the Survey Interview of the Future ; 2009; Conrad, F. G., Schober, M. F.
- Metrics for panel contribution: a non probabilistic platform; 2009; Gittelmam, S. H., Trimarchi, E.
- Are telephone Surveys a dying bread. How declining response rates can be explained and resolved; 2009; Degen, M., Obermüller, A., Schielicke, A.-M.
- Relation between values and topic of a survey in internet panel research; 2009; Vis, C., Marchand, M.
- The potential of mobile research: Implications for the future and the role of industry standards; 2009; Nelson, Li.
- Factors Contributing to Participation in Web‐based Surveys among Italian University Graduates; 2009; Cimini, C., Girottu, C., Gasperoni, G.
- Integration of different data collection techniques using the propensity score; 2009; Camillo, F., Conti, V., Ghiselli, S.
- Mode effects in Switzerland: non‐response and measurement error on the European Social Survey; 2009; Roberts, C.
- The mixing of survey modes: application to Laon web and face‐to‐face household travel survey...; 2009; Bayart, C., Bonnel, P.
- Reason analysis: an ambitious alternative for mixed‐mode survey design; 2009; Jerabek, H.
- An innovative open source strategy for the development of electronic questionnaires for statistical...; 2009; Degortes, M., Landriscina, M., Murgia, M.
- Response rates in multi actor surveys; 2009; Pasteels, I., Ponnet, K., Mortelmans, D.
- Unit non‐response in panel surveys: empirical finding from an experiment; 2009; Haunberger, S.
- Do cash incentives helps with RDD studies? Examination of results from a national and a statewide survey...; 2009; Miller, Y., Barger, K., Hearn, D.
- Are people sharing their mobile phones? Selection probabilities in cellular telephone surveys; 2009; Fuchs, M., Busse, B.
- Accuracy of Estimates in Access Panel based Surveys; 2009; Enderle, T., Münnich, R., Bruch, C.
- New developments in survey methodology for official statistics; 2009; Bethlehem, J.
- Survey cooperation: response to initial and follow-up requests - Recent experiences from the recruitment...; 2009; Bartsch, S., Engel, U., Schnabel, C., Vehre, H.
- Methodological Research for Longitudinal Surveys; 2009; Lynn, P.
- Using Mobile Phones to Administer a Working Memory Updating Task in a Survey - Cognitive Performance...; 2009; Schmiedek, F., Riediger, M., Lindenberger, U., Wagner, G. G.
- Accessibility of individuals for mobile phone surveys; 2009; Gabler, S., Häder, S.
- Mixed Modes and Measurement Error: Comparing face-to-face, telephone and web modes ; 2009; Hope, S., Nicolaas, G., Jaeckle, A., Lynn, P., Nandi, A., Campanelli, P.
- The Difficult but Essential Challenge of Designing Mixed-Mode Surveys; 2009; Dillman, D. A.
- Overcoming the challenges of measuring self-reported digital media use: Using feedback to increase data...; 2009
- The Internet survey ; 2009; Getka-Wilczynska, E.
- Modelling online survey participation among Italian university graduates ; 2009; Cimini, C., Girotti, C., Gasperoni, G.
- Coverage rates of mobile telephones and the Internet in Italy ; 2009; Fabbris, L., Gorelli, S.
- Imperfect frames and new data collection techniques ; 2009; Biffignandi, S.
- Web based survey methods workshop; 2009; Weiss, M.
- Web Surveys; 2009; Bosnjak, M.
- Internet Surveys and the Demise of the Matrix; 2009; O’Neill, G., Freedman, S.
- Assesssment of Potential Bias in Telephone Survey Estimates Due to Noncontact and Noncoverage When Household...; 2009; Khare, M., Wouhib, A.
- Experimenting With Speech Interactive Voice Response, Touchtone Data Entry and the Web for the National...; 2009; Cantor, D., Brick, P. D., Tourangeau, R., Conrad, F. G.
- Avoiding the ‘Hang ups’ - Understanding Mobile Phone Self-completion Surveys ; 2009; Johnson, A. J.
- The Impact of Technology on Research Quality; 2009; Milla, P.
- Respondent Technology Preferences; 2009; Miller, C.
- Getting In Line with Online: Making Sense of Chat-based Focus Groups, Ethnogrophies, Blogs, and More; 2009; Longo, J.