Web Survey Bibliography
Effects of number of response options in web surveys: The role of verbal labels
Relevance and research question: Fully labelled agree/disagree rating scales are often used to obtain data pertaining to subjective phenomena in web surveys. Although the link between the number of response options and the quality of information obtained with rating scales is well established, the role of the verbal labels attached to the options is less well studied. The verbal lables define the length and the fineness of a fully labelled rating scale and adding response options may therefore either lengthen the scale and/or make it finer. The aim of the present work it to examine the impact of altering the number and verbal labels of response options on the quality of the information obtained. Fully labelled rating scales with five, seven and nine response options are examined. Verbal labels are either used to lengthen the scales or to make them finer.
Method and data: University students in Germany and Iceland were presented with six questions measuring attitude towards university education in a web survey. Respondents were randomly assigned to six experimental conditions. 1) Five response options with the labels strongly, somewhat and neither/nor, 2) five response options with the lables fully, somewhat and neither nor, 3) seven options with the labels fully, strongly, somewhat and neither nor, 4) seven response options with the labels strongly, somewhat, slightly and neither/nor, 5) seven response options with the labels fully, somewhat, slightly and neither/nor and finally 6) nine response options with the labels fully, strongly, somewhat, slightly and neither/nor.
Results: The results show that the effect of the number of response options on the quality of the information obtained depends on whehter the added response options lengthen the scale or make it finer. A finer scale seems to reduce non-differentiation and extreme response style.
Added value: The findings show that the verbal labels attached to the response options must be taken into account in empirical research on the optimal number of response options.
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.