Web Survey Bibliography
We investigated the effect of language in answering qualitative questions in user experience (UX) evaluation web-surveys. Two cross-cultural case studies of high tech sports watches with altogether 176 participants were carried out. Comparisons in answers were made among 72 native English speakers and 104 non-native English speakers. In the first study native Italian and native English speaking users were compared. Half of the Italians answered in Italian and half of them in English. We found that the response rate for participating to the survey among Italians answering in their native language was 64 % compared to only 38% among Italians answering in English. The results of our case studies indicate that translating a UX web-survey into participants' native language would motivate users to participate in the study, especially if the user sample needs to include more varied users. It is easier to describe more in details and give examples of experiences, express emotions, feelings and ideas in one's own native language. The results suggest that if more descriptive qualitative data is needed from users, they are able to answer better in their own native language.
Digital Library (abstract) / (full text)