Not long ago survey methodologists focused on the «new» possibility of introducing the online mode to the existing telephone, paper & pencil or face-to-face modes of surveying. In the meantime mixed-mode approaches have gone a step further: The «online» mode has become more differentiated, covering a variety of devices used to access the Internet: mobile or desktop, small screen or large screen, touch screen, stylus or joystick etc. A part from the technical aspects, not only the usage of the Internet in general but the situation when taking part in an online survey differs. This must also be taken into account when designing current online or even online mixed mode surveys.
As part of our methodology to determine the official reach of Swiss websites, we recently converted the original online survey to an online mixed mode survey using a responsive design. In the presentation we will report from the process of this methodological adaption as well as from the results of the survey conducted in 2012 with over 15’000 participants.
We will both give an overview of the broad spectrum of issues that need to be taken into account when surveying using this increasingly diverse online mode and present our experience adapting “traditional” online surveys to the mobile and especially small screen environment: Specifically we will cover the challenges that exist when converting layout, question types, scales, answer categories or the presentation of images. Additionally, we will discuss the effects of using a responsive design that automatically adapts the survey delivered depending on the device used on the concept of “mixed mode” designs and provide insights into results we achieved using this design.