Web Survey Bibliography
This paper reviews the impact of different scale presentations in online surveys on closed ended question completion levels, respondents' preferences for scale presentation types and the influence those preferences have on questions answered and on respondents' future survey intentions. The scale presentations assessed were word scales, number scales, and emoticon scales. The rationale for the project was that marketing research seeks to obtain full and accurate answers from people invited to complete online self-completion surveys, and that survey design influences response and data quality. Self-completion surveys often use Likert scales (expressed in words, numbers or images) to collect data about attitude, intention or feeling. Online surveys can use emoticons (moving imagery) to present scale answers in place of word or number tick-a-box scale presentation. As emoticons have been seen, intuitively, as attractive and useful variations to long lists of word or number scale presentations, it was hypothesised that the use of emoticons in place of word or number scales would strengthen online survey data collection. Safe research practice requires confirmation of intuition, so five online surveys, each showing different presentations of scale formats, were undertaken in 2009 and in 2010. The findings indicate that the most effective scale presentation was number scale presentations if more answers in the questions are sought but that number scales were least preferred and may be better avoided if the survey design aims include being attractive and interesting to respondents. More respondents reported that they preferred word format scale presentations than emoticon or number scale presentations and respondents who completed word scale presentation format surveys were more likely to say they would complete similar such surveys in the future than those who completed number scale presentation format surveys. The least effective of the scale presentations tested were emoticons (images and slider scales) and their use is not recommended.
Web survey bibliography - Magazine article (28)
- How Sliders Bias Survey Data; 2013; Sellers, R.
- The Gamification of Marketing Research; 2013; Donato, P., Link, M. W.
- Data Use: A systematic method for checking online questionnaires; 2011; Arbittier, J.
- Understanding the pros and cons of mixed-mode research; 2011; Mora, M.
- FAQs for first-time clients of online qualitative; 2010; Langer, J.
- Are Internet access panels a lemon market?; 2010; Haynes, D.
- The impact of gender in e-mailed survey invitations; 2009; Derham, P.
- Using interactive technology to improve online questionnaire design; 2009; Chen, Te., Estrin, D.
- Faster than a speeding survey: Part II: The physician's perspective; 2009; Maciolek, T., Palish, J.
- Faster than a speeding survey: Part I: Rules of the road for online research with physicians; 2009; Maciolek, T., Palish, J.
- An examination of strategies for panel-blending; 2009; Fallig, M. A., Allen, D.
- 10 ways to keep your panel respondents happy; 2009; Hardy, N.
- By the Numbers: The pros and cons of sampling modes; 2008; Piekarski, L.
- A look at the impact of boredom on the respondent experience; 2008; Puleston, J., Sleep, D.
- Microsoft sues testing material vendors; 2006; Johnston, S. J.
- Web Surveys For the Enterprise; 2004; King, N.
- Web Survey's Hidden Hazards; 2003; Morrel Samuels, P.
- Online versus postal data collection methods: an examination of issues and a comparison of results; 2003; Adam, S., McDonald, H.
- A D-minus for computer exams; 2002; Mayfield, K.
- The power of online research; 2000; Taylor, H.
- Making Web research pay off: A research manager roundup; 1999; Smith, P.
- Principis's Web Survey competent for basic tasks; 1999; Marshall, T.
- Pollsters.com; 1999; Mitofsky, W. J.
- Cyber Research: The Impact of the Internet on Data Collection; 1998; Weible, R., Wallace, J.
- Social Science: Technology, Experimentation, and the Quality of Survey Data; 1998; Bloom, D. E.
- Market research on the web; 1998; McCullough, D.
- The Internet: Access grows, policies lag; 1997; Frost, M.
- Is May Research Ethical?; 1996; Duncan, G. T.