Web Survey Bibliography
Relevance & Research Question: Open-ended questions are often used to gather short numeric information in self-administered web questionnaires. Respondents are encouraged to enter numbers, quantities or frequencies into input fields, most often without any computerized formatting constraints predominantly in order to prevent item nonresponse. However, the absence of any formatting restrictions encourages large variances in answers deviating from the desired format, including value ranges, estimations, alphanumeric supplements, or even different measuring units which affect data quality negatively, and increase the efforts for data cleansing and preparation. Thus, concise and clear formatting instructions are needed to guide respondents providing answers in the desired format. Considering the fact that instructions are likely to be ignored the question arises how different modes of verbal instructions and visual cues can be applied to improve the impact of formatting instructions, and finally to enhance data quality.
Methods & Data: In a between-subjects field experiment conducted among university freshman students in an opt-in panel (N=670), we tested different visual modes of formatting instructions in open-ended numeric questions: (1) conventional instruction in a static manner, (2) dynamic instruction in a tooltip appearing when the mouse cursor hovers over the input field, and (3) symbolic instruction in terms of pre-defined default values in the input field indicating the desired response format. The effectiveness of each instruction mode was determined by the proportion of formally correct answers.
Results: Findings indicated that the implementation of dynamic formatting elements in terms of tooltips or default values had no positive effect on an improvement of response quality compared to conventional static formatting instructions. Even a combination of tooltips and pre-filled symbols could not achieve a significant increase in correctly formatted answers compared to the sole presentation of a fixed instruction.
Added Value: The results indicated that static formatting instructions should not be replaced hastily without examining the effect of dynamic elements sufficiently. However, initial findings suggested the potential of dynamic formatting instructions in enhancing the positive effect of conventional instructions.
GOR Homepage (abstract) / (presentation)
Web survey bibliography - General Online Research Conference (GOR) 2012 (26)
- Is „chapterisation“ a viable alternative to traditional progress indicators ?; 2012; Spicer, R., Dowling, Z.
- Exploring New Pathways to Survey Recruitment; 2012; Bilgram, V., Stadler, D.Jawecki, G.
- Understanding selection bias in a worldwide, volunteer web-survey; 2012; Tijdens, K., Steinmetz, S.
- Does Mode Matter? Initial Evidence from the German Longitudinal Election Study (GLES); 2012; Blumenstiel, J. E., Rossmann, J.
- The Representativity of Web Surveys of the General Population compared to Traditional Modes and Mixed...; 2012; Klausch, L. T., Schouten, B., Hox, J.
- Surveytainment 2.0: Why investing 10 more minutes more in constructing your questionnaire is worth considering...; 2012; Muehle, A., Tress, F., Schmidt, S., Winkler, T.
- Market research online community (MROC) versus focus group; 2012; Zuber, M.
- Data quality in MAWI and CAWI; 2012; Mavletova, A. M., Blasius, J.
- Time use data collection using Smartphones: Results of a pilot study among experienced and inexperienced...; 2012; Scherpenzeel, A., Sonck, N., Fernee, H., Morren, Me.
- Scrutinizing Dynamics – Rolling panel waves in theory and practice; 2012; Faas, T., Blumenberg, J. N.
- Little experience with technology as a cause of nonresponse in online surveys; 2012; Struminskaya, B., Schaurer, I., Kaczmirek, L., Bandilla, W.
- Automatic Forwarding on Web Surveys – Some Outlines and Remarks; 2012; Selkaelae, A.
- Thinking, Planning & Operationalizing Empirical Mixed Methods Research Design; 2012; Ruhi, U.
- Continuous large-scale volunteer web-surveys: The experience of Lohnspiegel and WageIndicator; 2012; Oez, F.
- Is Pretesting Established Among Online Survey Tool Users?; 2012
- An Evaluation of Two Non-Reactive Web Questionnaire Pretesting Methods; 2012; Lenzner, T.
- Recommendations for implementing online surveys and simple experiments in social and behavioural research...; 2012; Hewson, C. M.
- High potential for mobile Web surveys: Findings from a survey representative for German Internet users...; 2012; Funke, F., Wachenfeld, A.
- A taxonomy of paradata for web surveys and computer assisted self interviewing (Casi); 2012; Callegaro, M.
- Can Social Media Research replace traditional research methods?; 2012; Faber, T., Einhorn, M., Hofmann, O., Loeffler, M.
- Bad Boy Matrix Question – Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?; 2012; Tress, F.
- Matrix vs. Single Question Formats in Web Surveys: Results from a large scale experiment; 2012; Klausch, L. T., de Leeuw, E. D., Hox, J., de Jongh, A., Roberts , A.
- Effects of Static versus Dynamic Formatting Instructions for Open-Ended Numerical Questions in Web Surveys...; 2012; Kunz, T., Fuchs, M.
- FamilyVote – Conducting online surveys with children and families; 2012; Geissler, H., Peeters, H.
- The influence of social desirability on data quality in face-to-face and web surveys; 2012; Keusch, F.
- Reducing the Threat of Sensitive Questions in Online Surveys; 2012; Couper, M. P.