Web Survey Bibliography
Relevance & Research Question
When developing web-based course evaluation tools (for evaluating teaching e.g. in university or secondary schools), researchers and practitioners put much effort into reaching high psychometric properties of the instruments, realizing high participation rates, suitable and useful reports of the results, and the drawing of consequences (see Thielsch & Hirschfeld, 2011). However, there are three more vital aspects not to be overlooked, especially when using technology to aid collection, processing, and presentation of data: privacy, data security, and the ethical dimension of our actions. To account for these aspects is critical not only from a judicial point of view (European Union Data Protection Directive, 95/46/EC or, for Germany, Bundesdatenschutzgesetz, BDSG); considering them will arguably also foster acceptance of course evaluations among evaluators and evaluatees. This presentation therefore aims at discussing issues of privacy, data security and its ethical dimension when conducting online course evaluations.
Methods & Data
A review of the literature on the mentioned issues of course evaluations was conducted and paralleled to existing practice. Additional theoretical and practical aspects were examined. The following are key aspects being discussed: (1) carefully selecting (and limiting) the variables to assess; (2) securing assessment and storage of data via access control and encryption; (3) anonymized or pseudonymized archiving of data; (4) ethical aspects such as using non-reactive data and reporting of negative results.
Results
Online course evaluations show potential for very high data quality and benefits over traditional paper-pencil evaluations, in part due to the facilitated way to collect and process large data sets. However, the risks accompanying these facilitations are discussed, and recommendations for researchers and practitioners are given on how to control or even avoid them altogether.
Added Value
The study raises awareness for aspects of course evaluations that are often taken for granted or neglected, but may endanger data integrity as well as acceptance when not paid attention to. The study gives recommendations for conductors of web-based course evaluations on how to handle these aspects.
GOR Homepage (abstract) / (presentation)
Web survey bibliography - General Online Research Conference (GOR) 2013 (34)
- Respondent Rewards: Money for Nothing?; 2013; Martin, P.
- Pros and cons of virtual interviewers – vote in the discussion about surveytainment; 2013; Póltorak, M., Kowalski, J.
- The fish model: What factors affect participants while filling in an online questionnaire?; 2013; Mohamed, B., Lorenz, A., Pscheida, D.
- Interview Duration in Web Surveys: Integrating Different Levels of Explanation; 2013; Rossmann, J., Gummer, T.
- The monetary value of good questionnaire design; 2013; Tress, F.
- Technical and methodological meta-information on current practices in online research: A full population...; 2013; Burger, C., Stieger, S.
- Using interactive feedback to enhance response quality in Web surveys. The case of open-ended questions...; 2013; Emde, M., Fuchs, M.
- Reducing Response Order Effects in Check-All-That-Apply Questions by Use of Dynamic Tooltip Instructions...; 2013; Kunz, T., Fuchs, M.
- Measuring wages via a volunteer web survey – a cross-national analysis of item nonresponse; 2013; Steinmetz, S., Annmaria, B.
- Does one really know?: Avoiding noninformative answers in a reliable way.; 2013; de Leeuw, E. D., Boevee, A., Hox, J.
- Sensitive Topics in PC and Mobile Web Surveys; 2013; Mavletova, A. M., Couper, M. P.
- Mobile Research Performance: How Mobile Respondents Differ from PC Users Concerning Interview Quality...; 2013; Schmidt, S., Wenzel, O.
- Who responds to website visitor satisfaction surveys?; 2013; Andreadis, I.
- Measuring working conditions in a volunteer web survey; 2013; de Pedraza, P., Villacampa, A.
- Sampling online communities: using triplets as basis for a (semi-) automated hyperlink web crawler.; 2013; Veny, Y.
- Why are you leaving me?? - Personality predictors of answering drop out in an online-study; 2013; Thielsch, M., Nestler, S., Back, M.
- Propensity Score Weighting – Can Personality Adjust for Selectivity?; 2013; Glantz, A., Greszki, R.
- Research Design as an Influencing Factor for Reliability in Online Market Research; 2013; Wengrzik, J., Theuner, G.
- Ethics, privacy and data security in web-based course evaluation; 2013; Salaschek, M., Meese, C., Thielsch, M.
- Seducing the respondent – how to optimise invitations in on-site online research?; 2013; Póltorak, M., Kowalski, J.
- Influence of mobile devices in online surveys; 2013; Maxl, E., Baumgartner, T.
- E-questionnaire in cross-sectional household surveys; 2013; Karaganis, M.
- GESIS Online Panel Pilot: Results from a Probability-Based Online Access Panel; 2013; Kaczmirek, L., Bandilla, W., Schaurer, I., Struminskaya, B., Weyandt, K.
- Online Survey – Research with children on advertising impact; 2013; Funkenweh, V., Busch, J., Amthor, A. L., Boeer, A., Gaedke, J.
- HTML5 and mobile Web surveys: A Web experiment on new input types; 2013; Funke, F.
- Metadata on the demographics of online research: Results from a full-range study of available online...; 2013; Burger, C., Stieger, S.
- How the screen-out influence the dropout of a commercial panel; 2013; Bartoli, B.
- Beyond methodology - some ethical implications of "doing research online"; 2013; Heise, N.
- Innovation in Data Collection: the Responsive Design Approach; 2013; Bianchi, A., Biffignandi, S.
- Break-off and attrition in the GIP amongst technologically experienced and inexperienced participants...; 2013; Blom, A. G., Bossert, D., Clark, V., Funke, F., Gebhard, F., Holthausen, A., Krieger, U., Wachenfeld...
- Nonresponse and Nonresponse Bias in a Probability-Based Internet Panel; 2013; Blom, A. G., Bossert, D., Funke, F., Gebhard, F., Holthausen, A., Krieger, U.
- Rewards - Money for Nothing?; 2013; Cape, P. J., Martin, P.
- Effects of incentive reduction after a series of higher incentive waves in a probability-based online...; 2013; Struminskaya, B., Kaczmirek, L., Schaurer, I., Bandilla, W.
- Timing of Nonparticipation in an Online Panel: The effect of incentive strategies; 2013; Douhou, S., Scherpenzeel, A.