Web Survey Bibliography
Relevance & Research Question: Most surveys have one or more questions with thousands of response categories, the so-called long-list variables, such as occupation, industry, car brand, and alike. Typically an open-ended format with field- or office-recoding is used for these questions. In PAPI, CAPI and CATI, a closed format question restricts the number of responses to at most 50, being the maximum of a show card. In web-surveys closed format questions offer new opportunities, because the number of responses is not limited. For the survey design this requires a lookup database with all responses, a search tree to allow respondents to navigate through the database, and text string matching to ease the search.
This paper focusses on the requirements for a lookup database in web-surveys. The database can unfortunately not cover all possible responses, because no country has a full registration of job titles; in many countries the stock of job titles may well exceed 100,000. Typically, the occupational distribution has a very long tail, challenging the number of job titles in the database. The research aims to identify the share of respondents with job titles in the long tail of the distribution.
Methods & Data: The paper uses the data of the 2009 representative LISS web-survey on work and wages for the Dutch labour force (N = 3,508). For the occupation question this survey used a compulsory 3-step search tree with a lookup database of 1,614 occupational titles. The search tree included an option ‘other’ with a text box. The responses were coded.
Results: Of the 1,614 titles, 600 were ticked by 68% of respondents and 32% used the text box. 12% could have ticked an occupation from the lookup database. Of the remaining 16%, approximately one in ten had a job title that was mentioned at least twice and the rest had a unique job title. The long tail of the occupational distribution covered one in seven respondents.
Added Value: This study contributes to the quest to prevent manual coding of occupations in CAWI and CAPI and to the optimal number of occupational titles in a lookup database.
Web survey bibliography - General Online Research Conference (GOR) 2014 (29)
- Using Paradata to Predict and to Correct for Panel Attrition in a Web-based Panel Survey; 2014; Rossmann, J., Gummer, T.
- Targeting the bias – the impact of mass media attention on sample composition and representativeness...; 2014; Steinmetz, S., Oez, F., Tijdens, K. G.
- Offline Households in the German Internet Panel; 2014; Bossert, D., Holthausen, A., Krieger, U.
- Which fieldwork method for what target group? How to improve response rate and data quality; 2014; Wulfert, T., Woppmann, A.
- Exploring selection biases for developing countries - is the web a promising tool for data collection...; 2014; Tijdens, K. G., Steinmetz, S.
- Evaluating mixed-mode redesign strategies against benchmark surveys: the case of the Crime Victimization...; 2014; Klausch, L. T., Hox, J., Schouten, B.
- The quality of ego-centered social network data in web surveys: experiments with a visual elicitation...; 2014; Marcin, B., Matzat, U., Snijders, C.
- Switching the polarity of answer options within the questionnaire and using various numbering schemes...; 2014; Struminskaya, B., Schaurer, I., Bosnjak, M.
- Measuring the very long, fuzzy tail in the occupational distribution in web-surveys; 2014; Tijdens, K. G.
- Social Media and Surveys: Collaboration, Not Competition; 2014; Couper, M. P.
- Improving cheater detection in web-based randomized response using client-side paradata; 2014; Dombrowski, K., Becker, C.
- Interest Bias – An Extreme Form of Self-Selection?; 2014; Cape, P. J., Reichert, K.
- Online Qualitative Research – Personality Matters ; 2014; Tress, F., Doessel, C.
- Increasing data quality in online surveys 4.1; 2014; Hoeckel, H.
- Moving answers with the GyroScale: Using the mobile device’s gyroscope for market research purposes...; 2014; Luetters, H., Kraus, M., Westphal, D.
- Online Surveys as a Management Tool for Monitoring Multicultual Virtual Team Processes; 2014; Scovotti, C.
- How much is shorter CAWI questionnaire VS CATI questionnaire?; 2014; Bartoli, B.
- WEBDATANET: A Network on Web-based Data Collection, Methodological Challenges, Solutions, and Implementation...; 2014; Tijdens, K. G., Steinmetz, S., de Pedraza, P., Serrano, F.
- The Use of Paradata to Predict Future Cooperation in a Panel Study; 2014; Funke, F., Goeritz, A.
- Incentives on demand in a probability-based online panel: redemption and the choice between pay-out...; 2014; Schaurer, I., Struminskaya, B., Kaczmirek, L.
- The Effect of De-Contextualisation - A Comparison of Response Behaviour in Self-Administered Surveys; 2014; Wetzelhuetter, D.
- Responsive designed web surveys; 2014; Dreyer, M., Reich, M., Schwarzkopf, K.
- Extra incentives for extra efforts – impact of incentives for burdensome tasks within an incentivized...; 2014; Schreier, J. H., Biethahn, N., Drewes, F.
- Students First Choice – the influence of mobile mode on results; 2014; Maxl, E.
- Device Effects: How different screen sizes affect answer quality in online questionnaires; 2014; Fischer, B., Bernet, F.
- Moving towards mobile ready web panels; 2014; Wijnant, A., de Bruijne, M.
- Innovation for television research - online surveys via HbbTV. A new technology with fantastic opportunities...; 2014; Herche, J., Adler, M.
- Mixed-devices in a probability based panel survey. Effects on survey measurement error; 2014; Toepoel, V., Lugtig, P. J.
- Online mobile surveys in Italy: coverage and other methodological challenges; 2014; Poggio, T.