Web Survey Bibliography
Background: The number of medical studies performed through online surveys has increased dramatically in recent years. Despite their numerous advantages (eg, sample size, facilitated access to individuals presenting stigmatizing issues), selection bias may exist in online surveys. However, evidence on the representativeness of self-selected samples in online studies is patchy.
Objective: Our objective was to explore the representativeness of a self-selected sample of online gamers using online players’ virtual characters (avatars).
Methods: All avatars belonged to individuals playing World of Warcraft (WoW), currently the most widely used online game. Avatars’ characteristics were defined using various games’ scores, reported on the WoW’s official website, and two self-selected samples from previous studies were compared with a randomly selected sample of avatars.
Results: We used scores linked to 1240 avatars (762 from the self-selected samples and 478 from the random sample). The two self-selected samples of avatars had higher scores on most of the assessed variables (except for guild membership and exploration). Furthermore, some guilds were overrepresented in the self-selected samples.
Conclusions: Our results suggest that more proficient players or players more involved in the game may be more likely to participate in online surveys. Caution is needed in the interpretation of studies based on online surveys that used a self-selection recruitment procedure. Epidemiological evidence on the reduced representativeness of sample of online surveys is warranted.
JMIR Homepage (Abstract) & (Original paper)
Web of Science Homepage (Abstract) & (Full text)
Target population
Web survey bibliography (189)
- Displaying Videos in Web Surveys: Implications for Complete Viewing and Survey Responses; 2017; Mendelson, J.; Lee Gibson, J.; Romano Bergstrom, J. C.
- Answering Without Reading: IMCs and Strong Satisficing in Online Surveys; 2017; Anduiza, E.; Galais, C.
- Lessons from recruitment to an internet based survey for Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy: merits of...; 2017; Davies, B.; Kotter, M. R.
- Achieving Strong Privacy in Online Survey; 2017; Zhou, Yo.; Zhou, Yi.; Chen, S.; Wu, S. S.
- Usability Testing for Survey Research; 2017; Geisen, E.; Romano Bergstrom, J. C.
- Millennials and emojis in Spain and Mexico.; 2017; Bosch Jover, O.; Revilla, M.
- Humanizing Cues in Internet Surveys: Investigating Respondent Cognitive Processes; 2017; Jablonski, W.; Grzeszkiewicz-Radulska, K.; Krzewinska, A.
- Web Health Monitoring Survey: A New Approach to Enhance the Effectiveness of Telemedicine Systems; 2017; Romano, M. F.; Sardella, M. V.; Alboni, F.
- Device and Internet Use among Spanish-dominant Hispanics: Implications for Web Survey Design and Testing...; 2017; Trejo, Y. A. G.; Schoua-Glusberg, A.
- Utjecaj vizualne orientacije skale za odgovaranje i broja stranica web-upitnika na rezultate ispitivanja...; 2017; Malikovic, M.; Svegar, D.; Somodzi, S.
- How to Design a Web Survey Using Spring Boot With MYSQL: a Romanien Network Case Study; 2017; Bucea-Manea-Tonis, Ro.; Bucea-Manea-Tonis, Ra.
- Effects of Mobile versus PC Web on Survey Response Quality: a Crossover Experiment in a Probability...; 2017; Antoun, C.; Couper, M. P.; G. G.Conrad, F. G.
- Dynamic Question Ordering in Online Surveys; 2016; Early, K.; Mankoff, J.; Fienberg, S. E.
- Mobile-only web survey respondents; 2016; Lugtig, P. J.; Toepoel, V.; Amin, A.
- Development and Pilot Test of a Mobile Application for Field Data Collection; 2016; Chiappetta, L.; Kerr, M. M.
- A Feasibility Study of Recruiting and Maintaining a Web Panel of People with Disabilities; 2016; Chandler, J.
- Inferences from Internet Panel Studies and Comparisons with Probability Samples; 2016; Lachan, R.; Boyle, J.; Harding, R.
- FocusVision 2015 Annual MR Technology Report; 2016; Macer, T., Wilson, S.
- Effects of Personalization and Invitation Email Length on Web-Based Survey Response Rates; 2016; Trespalacios, J. H.; Perkins, R. A.
- Who Are the Internet Users, Mobile Internet Users, and Mobile-Mostly Internet Users?: Demographic Differences...; 2015; Antoun, C.
- App vs. Web for Surveys of Smartphone Users: Experimenting with mobile apps for signal-contingent experience...; 2015; McGeeney, K.; Keeter, S.; Igielnik, R.; Smith, A.; Rainie, L.
- Mode System Effects in an Online Panel Study: Comparing a Probability-based Online Panel with two Face...; 2015; Struminskaya, B.; De Leeuw, E. D.; Kaczmirek, L.
- Recruiting Respondents for a Mobile Phone Panel: The Impact of Recruitment Question Wording on Cooperation...; 2015; Busse, B.; Fuchs, M.
- Evaluating Visual Design Elements for Data Collection and Panelist Engagement; 2015; Christian, L. M.; Harm, D.; Langer Tesfaye, C.; Wells, T.
- Predictors of inconsistent responding in web surveys; 2015; Akbulut, Y.
- Does Opinion Leadership Increase the Followers on Twitter; 2015; Hwang, Y.
- When it comes to mobile respondent experience and data quality, survey design matters; 2014; Mitchell, N.
- The Changing Landscape of Technology and its Effect on Online Survey Data Collection; 2014; Mitchell, N.
- The need of and the demand for completing surveys on mobile devices; 2014; Toninelli, D., Revilla, M., Ochoa, C.
- The Effectiveness of Mailed Invitations for Web Surveys and the Representativeness of Mixed-Mode versus...; 2014; Bandilla, W., Couper, M. P., Kaczmirek, L.
- Gender Differences in Internet Addiction Associated with Psychological Health Indicators Among Adolescents...; 2014; Ha, Y.-M., Hwang, W. J.
- Use of a Google Map Tool Embedded in an Internet Survey Instrument: Is it a Valid and Reliable Alternative...; 2014; Dasgupta, S., Vaughan, A. S., Kramer, M. R., Sanchez, T. H., Sullivan, P. S.
- Does Self-Selection Affect Samples' Representativeness in Online Surveys? An Investigation in Online...; 2014; Khazaal, Y., van Singer, M., Chatton, A., Achab, S., Zullino, D., Rothen, S., Khan, R., Billieux, J.,...
- Differences in intrapersonal and interactional empowerment between lurkers and posters in health-related...; 2014; Petrovcic, A., Petric, G.
- Web-based Emergency Department Patient Satisfaction Surveys May Introduce Potential for Bias; 2014; Broadwater-Hollifield, C., Fair, J., Podolsky, S., et al.
- Validating respondents' identity in online samples; 2014; Baker, R., Miller, C., Kachhi-Jiwani, D., Lange, K., Wilding-Brown, L., Tucker, J.
- Which fieldwork method for what target group? How to improve response rate and data quality; 2014; Wulfert, T., Woppmann, A.
- Social desirability is the same in offline, online, and paper surveys: A meta-analysis; 2014; Dodou, D., de Winter J. C. F.
- Clicking vs. Dragging: Different Uses of the Mouse and Their Implications for Online Surveys; 2014; Sikkel, D., Steenbergen, R., Gras, S.
- Online Surveys as a Management Tool for Monitoring Multicultual Virtual Team Processes; 2014; Scovotti, C.
- Ideal participants in online market research: Lessons from closed communities; 2013; Heinze, A., Ferneley, E., Child, P.
- The internet user profile of Italian families of patients with rare diseases: a web survey; 2013; Tozzi, A. E., Mingarelli, R., Agricola, E., Gonfiantini, M., Pandolfi, E., Carloni, E., Gesualdo, F.,...
- Internet health information seeking is a team sport: Analysis of the Pew Internet Survey; 2013; Sadasivam, R. S., Kinney, R. L., Lemon, S. C., Shimada, S. L., Allison, J. J., Houston, T. K.
- Advantages of a global multimodal print & digital readership survey; 2013; Cour, N., Saint-Joanis, G.
- Australia: building a 21st century readership survey; 2013; Green, A., White, H.
- Video Content in Web Surveys: Effects on Selection Bias and Validity; 2013; Shapiro-Luft, D., Cappella, J.
- When to and When Not to Conduct a Web Survey; 2013; Barna, A.
- Relative Mode Effects on Data Quality in Mixed-Mode Surveys by an Instrumental Variable; 2013; Vannieuwenhuyze, J. T. A., Revilla, M.
- Educational use of smart phone technology: A survey of mobile phone application use by undergraduate...; 2013; Bomhold, C. R.
- Customer satisfaction in Web 2.0 and information technology development; 2013; Sharma, G., Baoku, L.