Web Survey Bibliography
We ran experiments to study the role of email subject lines on improving response rates to Web surveys in nine countries. In the first study (US and Canada) subjects received an email invitation and two email reminders; we randomly assigned potential respondents to receive different email subject lines for each. For the initial invitation, the subject line was either a question (―Would you like to provide your feedback?‖) or a polite request (―Please provide your feedback‖). The polite request received 21% more responses. For the first reminder, the subject line either appealed to personal interests by reminding them of the incentive (―Provide feedback & receive a mug‖) or played on the bandwagon effect (―Join other advertisers in providing feedback‖). The incentive reminder was 94% more effective. The final reminder either provided a deadline for completing the survey or did not; including a deadline in the subject line was 42% more effective. We replicated the experiment in Europe, with modifications: no incentive was offered, and subjects were randomized to condition for each email. The body of the email invitation was kept the same across conditions--only the subject line differed. As in North America, the polite request outperformed the question, improving the response rate by 21%. The second experiment tested the ‗bandwagon‘ wording against a strong directive: Provide your feedback on...; the directive improved RR by 18%, a statistically significant difference for 5 of the 7 countries. Finally, in Europe we did not see a difference between a reminder that included a deadline and one that did not; we hypothesize the lack of incentive lead to a lack of urgency to complete the survey on time. We will discuss these findings in light of the literature on email subject lines and provide suggestions for using subject lines to improve RR to Web surveys.
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Web Survey Bibliography - 2011 (567)
- Testing for measurement equivalence of human values across online and paper-and-pencil surveys; 2011; Davidov, E., Depner, F.
- Development of a Web-Based Survey for Monitoring Daily Health and its Application in an Epidemiological...; 2011; Sugiura, H., Ohkusa, Y., Akahane, M., Sano, T., Okabe, N., Imamura, T.
- Sampling v. Scale: An investigation the tension between convenience sampling, response rates, probability...; 2011; Garland, P.
- Effectiveness and consequences of various recruitment methods in psychological research: case study; 2011; Póltorak, M.
- Using Amazon's Mechanical Turk for the recruitment of participants in Internet-based research; 2011; Reips, U. -D., Buffardi, L., Kuhlmann, T.
- A new approach to the analysis of survey drop-out. Results from Follow-up Surveys in the German Longitudinal...; 2011; Rossmann, J., Blumenstiel, J. E., Steinbrecher, M.
- Tracking the decision-making process – Findings from an Online Rolling Cross-Section Panel Study...; 2011; Faas, T.
- Social desirability and self-reported health risk behaviors in web-based research: three longitudinal...; 2011; Crutzen, R., Goeritz, A.
- Slider Scales Causing Serious Problems With Less Educated Respondents; 2011; Funke, F., Reips, U. -D., Thomas, R. K.
- Should we use the progress bar in online surveys? A meta-analysis of experiments manipulating progress...; 2011; Callegaro, M., Yang, Y., Villar, A.
- From "Web Questions" to "Propensity Score Weighting": An Evaluation of Topics and...; 2011; Welker, M., Taddicken, M.
- Survey Says? A Primer on Web-Based Survey Design and Distribution; 2011; Oppenheimer, A. J., Pannucci, C. J., Kasten, S. J., Haase, S. C.
- Quota Controls: Science or merely Sciencey?; 2011; Cape, P. J.
- Rich Profiles – Or: What's the problem with self-disclosure data?; 2011; Tress, F.
- Who are leaving our panel: panel attrition and personality traits; 2011; Marchand, M.
- Mobile Research Apps – Adding New Capabilities to Market Research; 2011; Rieber, D.
- The influence of personality traits and motives for joining on participation behavior in online panels...; 2011; Keusch, F.
- Asking sensitive questions in a recruitment interview for an online panel: the income question; 2011; Schaurer, I., Struminskaya, B., Kaczmirek, L., Bandilla, W.
- Determinants of access-panel participation: Recent experiences from the recruitment of members for a...; 2011; Engel, U., Bartsch, S., Vehre, H.
- Speeders in Online Value Research: Cross-checking results of fast and slow respondents in two separate...; 2011; Beckers, T., Siegers, P., Kuntz, A.
- Effects of survey question clarity on data quality; 2011; Lenzner, T.
- Respondent Characteristics as Explanations for Uninformative Survey Response: Sources of Nondifferentiation...; 2011; Van Meurs, L., Klausch, L. T., Schoenbach, K.
- Recreation Participation and Conservation Attitudes: Differences Between Mail and Online Respondents...; 2011; Graefe, A., Mowen, A. J., Covelli, E.
- Improving online surveys; 2011; Puleston, J.
- Snap judgement polling; 2011; Anderson, K., Wright, M., Wheeler, M.
- Individual differences in motivation to participate in online panels; 2011; Bruggen, E., Wetzels, M., de Ruyter, K., Schillewaert, N.
- Data Use: A systematic method for checking online questionnaires; 2011; Arbittier, J.
- In the market for an online panel? What clients need to know; 2011; Hartmann, S.
- How Procter & Gamble worked to develop online data quality guidelines; 2011; Gloeckler, D.
- Understanding the pros and cons of mixed-mode research; 2011; Mora, M.
- Visiting item non-responses in internet survey data collection; 2011; Albaum, G., Roster, C. A., Smith, S. M., Wiley, J. B.
- Estimating nonresponse bias and mode effects in a mixed-mode survey; 2011; Lugtig, P. J., Lensvelt-Mulders, G. J., Frerichs, R., Greven, A.
- Can search engine advertising help access rare samples?; 2011; Nunan, D., Knox, S.
- Why Web-assisted TDIs are a cost-effective qualitative methodology ; 2011; Donnelly, T.
- Capturing affective experiences using the SMS Experience Sampling (SMS-ES) method.; 2011; Andrews, L., Russell-Bennett, R., Drennan, J.
- Successful Prompting Methods on a Web-Based Survey; 2011; Venkataraman, L.
- Multi-Mode Survey Administration; 2011; Holder, T.
- Do’s and Don’ts of Developing Mixed Mode Surveys; 2011; Sanders, T.
- Mobile Survey Development Toolkit/Survey Framework; 2011; Rauch, M.
- Web based CATI on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud and VirtualBox using queXS; 2011; Zammit, A.
- Survey Suite: Our "LOGIN & GO" Solution to Survey Research Needs; 2011; Lowden, M.
- Factors Influencing Response Rates in Mail Surveys and Reducing Costs; 2011; Schultz, M., Allen, T.
- A Dinosaur That Just Won't Die: A Return to Paper Surveys; 2011; Crandall, S., Crisafulli, T.
- Responses to Mail-Internet Mixed Mode Surveys: When Can we do Away with Paper Questionnaires?; 2011; Krebill-Prather, R.
- Web/Cloud Based CATI Using queXS; 2011; Zammit, A.
- When Referring to Mode, Is Expressed Preference the Same as Reality?; 2011; Denk, K.
- Developing Paradata Tools to Maximize Call Center Conversion Rates; 2011; Heinrich, T., Pittman, J., Abu, K.
- Incentives, Research-based Best Practices; 2011; Dykema, J.
- e-Collection at Statistics Canada; 2011; Faid, M.
- "But This is My Cell Phone!": A Qualitative Look at Practical Techniques for Gaining the...; 2011; George, J., Balok, T., Frasier, A. M.

