Web Survey Bibliography
Mixed -mode data collection is of increasing interest within survey research methods, particularly when Web-based data collection has the opportunity to increase data quality and decrease cost. Address-based sampling from the U.S. Postal Service’s Delivery Sequence File (DSF) presents a sustainable method to implement population-based surveys, but web-based data collection has not been extensively used in this context. Existing methods have been established to push particular modes over a series of mailings (Messer & Dillman 2011), but these methodologies often rely on monetary incentives. The project examines the performance of a mixed-mode population-based survey in a large urban setting that has the goal of providing results generalizable to the overall population. Metro SHAPE (www.MetroSHAPE.us) is an ongoing population-based health surveillance project administered collaboratively by eight health departments in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota area. In 2014, a random sample of 58,000 households were selected to participate in the survey using the DSF as the sampling frame. It is anticipated that 10,000 individuals will complete the survey. Selected households were twice offered a chance to complete the survey on-line using an assigned ID and password. They subsequently were sent a paper version of the survey. Some participants were given a small non-monetary incentive with the initial mailing and others were not. The presentation will discuss: 1) the impact of strategies used to increase the inclusion and participation of persons in low-income households, racial and ethnic minority groups, and households without computers; 2) the differences in demographic characteristics of survey respondents between the on-line and paper modes and potential mode effects; 3) the impact of non-monetary incentives; and 4) the benefits and challenges of administering a large population-based health surveillance project jointly with multiple government agencies The survey went into the field in September 2014 and is scheduled to finish in early 2015.