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Web Survey Bibliography

Title Informing panel members about study results
Year 2014
Access date 30.06.2014
Abstract

The LISS panel (Longitudinal Internet Studies for the Social Sciences) is an online panel which is based on a true probability sample of households. Households that cannot otherwise participate are provided with a computer and Internet connection.

The most important encouragement for long-term participation in the LISS panel is the €15, - per hour incentive which panel members can earn. However, in addition to that payment, we have tried several supplementary encouragements, appealing more to feelings of closeness, interest, and helping science than to reciprocity alone. In two series of experiments, we regularly gave panel members feedback about study results. First, we used traditional methods to provide feedback, such as newsletters, free postcards, and booklets. Second, we tried newer methods that make use of the specific possibilities of an online panel, such as short “You Tube”-like videos in which a researcher tells about the results, or graphs at the end of a questionnaire, representing the real-time answer distribution on one of the questionnaires the respondent has just answered. In all experiments, we randomly selected control groups of panel members that did not get the extra encouragement.

In general, the feedback did not have significant effects on the long-term participation in the LISS panel, neither the traditional information materials, nor the innovative feedback. Furthermore, we found no substantive, clear effects of the different materials within specific demographic subgroups of panel members. The new interactive materials were appreciated rather positively by the panel members, more so than the old materials. However, the results of these experiments raise the question whether it is worthwhile to keep giving different forms of feedback to panel members, as it does not appear to have a positive effect on participation rates and yet it does require extra budgetary resources.

Year of publication2014
Bibliographic typeBook section
Print

Web survey bibliography - In M. Callegaro, R. Baker, J. Bethlehem, A. S. Göritz, J. A. Krosnick and P. J. Lavrakas (eds.): Online Panel Research: A Data Quality Perspective. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, UK (15)