Web Survey Bibliography
(a) Relevance & Research Question
High drop-out rates are considered a major shortcoming of web surveys and considerably threaten data quality. However, until recently survey breakoff has received limited scholarly attention and knowledge about the reasons causing respondents to terminate surveys early is still fractional. In political science, the topic has been particularly neglected. Enhanced understanding of the complex processes leading to breakoff is needed in order to develop standard guidelines for web surveys that help in minimising drop-out rates.
(b) Methods & Data
Connected to the German Longitudinal Election Study (GLES) a seven-wave campaign online tracking has been conducted with about 14,000 respondents, thereof 3,000 drop-outs. This data allows for a detailed analysis of drop-outs: Given the applied quota design, personal information is available even about those respondents who answered some questions but did not finish the survey. As many questions were included in each wave, yet being asked at different questionnaire positions and being surrounded by various items, contextual effects on drop-out can be analysed.
In terms of research methods, among other things, life tables were presented to observe how breakoffs are distributed throughout the survey. Discrete-time survival models with page-varying covariates are estimated for each wave separately, including both respondent characteristics as well as questionnaire and page characteristics.
(c) Results
Our main findings can be summarised as follows:
In accordance with recent research, we find drop-out to be a function of both respondent characteristics and page characteristics. For instance, higher educated people are less likely to break off, whereas open questions tend to produce significantly higher drop-outs.
In the course of the survey, the drop-out-risk tends to decrease.
Varying the context a question is embedded in, may affect the number of drop-outs, thus breakoff in web surveys is not unchallengeable.
(d) Added Value
Our findings confirm some results of previous research dealing with breakoff in web surveys. The reasons for breakoffs thus seem to be largely independent of the survey topic. Even more essential, based on the empirical results, some prospects for reducing the number of drop outs in web surveys by questionnaire and page design are provided.
Conference Homepage (abstract) / (presentation)
Web survey bibliography - Germany (361)
- Are well-selected panelists better respondents? Insights into the effect of a master screener on panel...; 2010; Irmer, C., Tress, F.
- Selection Bias in Web Surveys and the Use of Propensity Scores in Forecasting the Result of the 2009...; 2010; Musch, J., Ullrich, S., Diedenhofen, D.
- Self-administered mobile surveys: Usability and (non)participation; 2010; Scherrer, S., Bosnjak, M.
- Social desirability and self-reported health risk behaviors in web-based research: three longitudinal...; 2010; Crutzen, R., Goeritz, A.
- Security and Data Protection: Collection, Storage, Feedback in Internet Research; 2010; Thiele, O., Kaczmirek, L.
- Methoden der Online-Forschung; 2010; Welker, M., Wünsch, C.
- Online-Befragungen im Kontext von Lehrevaluationen – praktisch und unzuverlässig; 2010; Meinefeld, W.
- The Effects of Different Incentives on Data Quantity and Data Quality in Online Panels; 2010; Singh, R. K., Voggeser, B. J., Goeritz, A.
- Breakoff in Web Surveys of the German Longitudinal Election Study (GLES); 2010; Blumenstiel, J. E., Roßmann, J., Steinbrecher, M.
- The longitudinal effect of incentives on participation and data quality in online panels; 2010; Neumann, B. P., Goeritz, A.
- The denominator problem: Estimating MSM-specific incidence of sexually transmitted infections and prevalence...; 2009; Marcus, U., Schmidt, A. J., Kollan, C., Hamouda, O.
- Mobile surveys from a technological perspective; 2009; Pferdekämper, T., Batanic, B.
- The Effect of Phrasing Scale Items in Low-Brow or High-Brow Language on Responses; 2009; Blasius, J., Friedrichs, J.
- Continuous Measurement of Musically-Induced Emotion: A Web Experiment ; 2009; Egermann, H., Nagel, F., Altenmueller, E., Kopiez, R.
- Methodeneffekte von Web-Befragungen: Soziale Erwünschtheit vs. Soziale Entkontextualisierung; 2009; Taddicken, M.
- A Comparison of Different Survey Periods in Online Surveys of Persons with Eating Disorders and Their...; 2009; Wesemann, D., Grunwald, A., Grunwald, M.
- Are telephone Surveys a dying bread. How declining response rates can be explained and resolved; 2009; Degen, M., Obermüller, A., Schielicke, A.-M.
- 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.
- Survey cooperation: response to initial and follow-up requests - Recent experiences from the recruitment...; 2009; Bartsch, S., Engel, U., Schnabel, C., Vehre, H.
- 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.
- Mobile Phone Surveys in Germany – Response rates and response behaviour; 2009; Hader, S., Schneiderat, G.
- Interviewer voice characteristics and productivity in telephone surveys; 2009; Best, H., Bauer, G., Steinkopf, L.
- The impact of forgiving wording and question context on social desirability bias in sensitive surveys...; 2009; Naher, A.- F., Krumpal, I.
- Interactive feedback can improve accuracy of responses in web surveys; 2009; Conrad, F. G., Couper, M. P., Tourangeau, R., Galesic, M.
- The influence of the field time on data quality in list-based Web surveys; 2009; Goeritz, A., Stieger, S.
- Are Respondents Sharing their Mobile Phones? Preliminary results based on a mobile phone panel in Germany...; 2009; Fuchs, M.
- Dynamic feedback in open-ended questions: Experiments on the visual design language of Web surveys; 2009; Fuchs, M.
- Effects of monetary incentives on participation in a two-wave online survey; 2009; Bandilla, W., Haas, I.
- Representativeness of Mobile Internet Surveys - A comparative study of CAMI vs. CATI ; 2009; Maier, U., Neubarth, W., Grosser, A., Hombach, A.
- Using flash type questions – stroke of luck or curse for data quality?; 2009; Laufer, S., Klapproth, U., Noll, S.
- Generic or Project-Specific Mail? – The Influence of Invitations on Response Behaviour in the...; 2009; Schroll, S.
- An Online Study on Coping with Anxiety and Disease-Specific Internet Use in Panic Attack Sufferers; 2009; König, D., Hiebler, C., 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.
- 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.
- Verbal Vs Visual Response Options: Reconciling Meanings Conveyed by a Computer Aided Visual Rating Scale...; 2009; Garland, P., Cape, P.
- AGOF internet facts – increasing the response rate for onsite-surveys; 2009; Foerstel, H.
- 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.
- 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.
- Integrating Mobile Surveys into digital market research: Recommendations for Mobile Panel operation...; 2009; Friedrich-Freksa, M., de Groote, Z., Metzger, G.
- Social Web and Self-Disclosure = Participation vs. Privacy? Exploring How Users Manage this Dilemma...; 2009; Taddicken, M., Jers, C., Schenk, M.