Web Survey Bibliography
Title The Grouping of Items in Mobile Web Surveys
Author Mavletova, A. M., Couper, M. P.
Year 2014
Access date 28.08.2014
Abstract
There is some evidence that breaking a survey into several pages may increase breakoffs inmobile web surveys compared to a scrolling design where all items are presented on the same page. However, to our knowledge, there is almost no empirical evidence on the optimal number of items or questions to include on a page in a mobile web survey. We investigate the effect of the number of items presented on the screen on data quality in two types of questionnaires – with or without user-controlled skips. Three scrolling options were compared in a survey with 30 items where 5, 15, or all 30 questions were presented on a page. We conducted a randomized experiment using a volunteer online access panel in Russia. Panelists were invited to complete the survey via mobile phone, with random assignment to one of the six conditions. A total of 2,032 respondents completed the survey with an overall completion rate of 26.3%. We found that displaying all 30 items on a page reduced the breakoff rate by almost a third compared to presenting 5 items per page in the questionnaire without skips. In both surveys with and without skips the completion time was significantly lower in the 30-items per page condition; however, it also resulted in higher overall item nonresponse rate. No effect was found for the number of the items displayed on the screen on measurement error in both closed-and open-ended questions. Though the questionnaire with skips did not produce a higher breakoff rate than the questionnaire with skips, there is evidence of motivated underreporting when participants could skip two open-ended questions in a row. We will present our research findings and offer some practical recommendations for questionnaire design for mobile web surveys, depending on the research goals.
Access/Direct link
Year of publication2014
Bibliographic typeConferences, workshops, tutorials, presentations
Web survey bibliography - The American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) 69th Annual Conference, 2014 (20)
- Investigating Response Quality in Mobile and Desktop Surveys: A Comparison of Radio Buttons, Visual...; 2014; Toepoel, V.; Funke, F.
- Assessing the Impact Device Choice Has on Web Survey Data Collection ; 2014; Hupp, A.; Schroeder, H. M.; Piskorowski, A.D.
- Understanding Mobility: Consent and Capture of Geolocation Data in Web Surveys; 2014; Crawford, S. D.; McClain, C.; Young, R.H.; Nelson, T. F.
- Instant Interactive Feedback in Grid Questions: Reminding Web Survey; 2014; Kunz, T., Fuchs, M.
- What Does the Satisfaction with Democracy Measure Mean to Respondents in Different Countries? How Cross...; 2014; Behr, D., Braun, M.
- Using Eye Tracking to Evaluate Email Notifications of Surveys and Online Surveys Collecting Address...; 2014; Olmsted, E. L., Nichols, E. M.
- Respondent Processing of Multiple Images throughout a Web Survey; 2014; Charoenruk, N., Stange, M.
- Using Eye Tracking to Examine the Visual Design of Web Surveys; 2014; Zhou, Q., Ricci, K., Olson, K., Smyth, J. D.
- Achieving Balance: Understanding the Relationship between Complexity and Response Quality; 2014; Kirchner, A., Powell, R.
- Question Grouping and Matrices in Web Surveys: Using Response and Auxiliary Data to Examine Question...; 2014; Bilgen, I., Stern, M. J.
- The Grouping of Items in Mobile Web Surveys; 2014; Mavletova, A. M., Couper, M. P.
- Evaluating the Efficacy of Mixed-Mode Intercept Surveys for Complex Questionnaires; 2014; Puniello, O. T.
- Experiments with Email Formatting; 2014; Lawrence, S., Phillips, B. T.
- Sequential or Simultaneous Multi-Mode? Results from Two Large Surveys of Electric Utility Consumers; 2014; Jackson, C., Ledoux, C.
- Correlates of Attrition in the German Internet Panel: Drop-Outs and Sleepers; 2014; Blom, A. G., Beissel-Durrant, G.
- Survey Breakoff in Online Panels; 2014; McCutcheon, A. L.
- Measuring Nonresponse Bias in Web Surveys: The Role of Health Status; 2014; Zhang, M.
- Providing a Deadline for Response: Results from Two Recent Experiments; 2014; Kaiser, A., Walston, J. T., Medway, R., Ye, C., Tourangeau, R.
- Respondents Playing Fast and Loose?: Antecedents and Consequences of Respondent Speed of Completion; 2014; Thomas, R. K., Barlas, F. M.
- A Glimpse Inside the Mind of a Respondent: Using Paradata to Improve Online Surveys; 2013; Pape, T.; Barron, S.