Relevance & Research Question
The number of internet panelists accessing internet surveys with mobile devices has quickly bypassed the 20% mark. Yet, little is known about the influence of screen size on survey data quality. How do answers given on a small screen device (e.g. smartphone) differ from answers given on a large screen device (e.g. laptop or desktop computer)?
LINK conducted a series of fundamental research on this subject. In the following presentation we would like to show our latest scientific results from an applied marketing research project on online and mobile shopping decision making.
Methods & Data
Method: Online survey with adaptive questionnaire layout optimised for small and large screen devices.
Sample:
Representative Swiss sample from the LINK Internet Panel and LINK Mobile Panel.
These panelists regularly answer questionnaires on both large screen devices (eg. laptop or desktop computer) and small screen devices (e.g. Smartphone).
Applying an identical split sample approach, we examined the effects of the device used for answering the questionnaire:
Group 1 had to answer the questionnaire on a large screen device (invitation by e-mail)
Group 2 had to answer the questionnaire on a smartphone (invitation by SMS)
N=300 complete interviews per group
Participation rate for both groups approximately 50%
Results
Differences in answering behaviour of panelists using a large screen device compared to panelists using a small screen device. Effect can especially be found in various question types such as closed and open questions, matrix questions, etc.
Added Value
Sharing new and relevant results about the influence of different screen sizes on the answer behaviour in internet surveys.
Showing possible ways to deal with increasing numbers of panelist answering by smartphones.