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Web Survey Bibliography

Title Web Surveys: Re-(Search) for an Appropriate Design
Author Blanke, K.
Year 2011
Access date 02.08.2011
Abstract

German official statistics covers more than 380 statistics, of which 170 surveys based on questionnaires. Only a few are related to social statistics, the majority of surveys deals with information on businesses, institutions, or public administrations.

Data for business statistics are collected in two ways: either by paper-and-pencil questionnaires or by electronic forms (at least for approximately 150 surveys since 2004). These online survey forms have been standardised by a user-navigated tabbed design. Since there is a growing demand on web solutions for individual and household surveys, the tabbed design has been also applied for this kind of statistics. All in all, the implementation has been quite challenging: The target population as well as the type of answering categories are different compared to business statistics. In addition, based on a German regulation, barrier-free online survey forms (adapted for handicapped respondents) have to be provided, too.

Under these conditions, usability tests on different designs – tabbed and scrolling design – have been accomplished. The presentation gives an overview on the results, the advantages and disadvantages of the designs. Discussion shall focus on the tightrope walk between the necessity of standardisation and the difficulties of the one-size-fits-all-approach.

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Year of publication2011
Bibliographic typeConferences, workshops, tutorials, presentations
Full text availabilityFurther details
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