Web Survey Bibliography
We present the results of six experiments that demonstrate the impact of visual features of survey questions on the responses they elicit, the response process they initiate, or both. All six experiments were embedded in Web surveys. Experiments 1 and 2 investigate the effects of the placement of nonsubstantive response options (for example, "No opinion" and "Don't know" answer options) in relation to the substantive options. The results suggest that when these options are not differentiated visually (by a line or a space) from the substantive options, respondents may be misled about the midpoint of the scale; respondents seemed to use the visual rather than the conceptual midpoint of the scale as a reference point for responding. Experiment 3, which varied the spacing of the substantive options, showed a similar result. Responses were pushed in the direction of the visual midpoint when it fell to one side of the conceptual midpoint of the response scale. Experiment 4 examined the effects of varying whether the response options, which were arrayed vertically, followed a logical progression from top to bottom. Respondents answered more quickly when the options followed a logical order. Experiment 5 examined the effects of the placement of an unfamiliar item among a series of similar items. For example, one set of items asked respondents to say whether several makes and models of cars were expensive or not. The answers for the unfamiliar items depended on the items that were nearby on the list. Our last experiment varied whether a battery of related items was administered on a single screen, across two screens, or with each item on its own screen. The intercorrelations among the items were highest when they were all on the same screen. Respondents seem to apply interpretive heuristics in assigning meaning to visual cues in questionnaires. They see the visual midpoint of a scale as representing the typical or middle response; they expect options to be arrayed in a progression beginning with the leftmost or topmost item; and they expect items that are physically close to be related to each other conceptually.
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Web survey bibliography - Tourangeau, R. (45)
- Reducing speeding in web surveys by providing immediate feedback; 2017; Conrad, F.; Tourangeau, R.; Couper, M. P.; Zhang, C.
- Using eye-tracking to understand how fourth grade students answer matrix items; 2015; Maitland, A.; Sun, H.; Caporaso, A.; Tourangeau, R.; Bertling, J.; Almonte, D.
- Measurement Properties of Web Surveys; 2015; Tourangeau, R.
- Providing a Deadline for Response: Results from Two Recent Experiments; 2014; Kaiser, A., Walston, J. T., Medway, R., Ye, C., Tourangeau, R.
- The Relations Among Different Cognitive Shortcuts in Surveys; 2013; Tourangeau, R., Medway, R., Presser, S.
- Anonymity and Confidentiality; 2012; Tourangeau, R.
- Modes of Data Collection; 2012; Tourangeau, R.
- Database Lookup in Web Surveys; 2012; Couper, M. P., Zhang, C., Conrad, F. G., Tourangeau, R.
- Question Order Effect: A Web Survey Experiment with Paradata; 2012; Ye, C., Tourangeau, R.
- Should I Stay or Should I go: The Effects of Progress Feedback, Promised Task Duration, and Length of...; 2011; Yan, T., Conrad, F. G., Tourangeau, R., Couper, M. P.
- Nonresponse Error, Measurement Error, And Mode Of Data Collection: Tradeoffs in a Multi-mode Survey...; 2011; Sakshaug, J. W., Yan, T., Tourangeau, R.
- The psychology or survey response. An ASA webinar; 2010; Tourangeau, R.
- The psychology of survey response, 2nd Edition; 2010; Tourangeau, R., Bradburn, N. M.
- Professional Web Respondents and Data Quality; 2010; Conrad, F. G., Tourangeau, R., Couper, M. P., Zhang, C.
- Increasing Respondents' Use of Definitions in Web Surveys; 2010; Peytchev, A., Conrad, F. G., Couper, M. P., Tourangeau, R.
- Interactive Interventions in Web Surveys Can Increase Respondent Conscientiousness; 2009; Conrad, F. G., Tourangeau, R., Couper, M. P., Kennedy, C.
- Experimenting With Speech Interactive Voice Response, Touchtone Data Entry and the Web for the National...; 2009; Cantor, D., Brick, P. D., Tourangeau, R., Conrad, F. G.
- Interactive feedback can improve accuracy of responses in web surveys; 2009; Conrad, F. G., Couper, M. P., Tourangeau, R., Galesic, M.
- Response Order and Response Distributions: The Format of the Response Options in a Web Survey; 2009; Tourangeau, R., Conrad, F. G., Couper, M. P., Balter, O.
- Improving the Design of Complex Matrix Questions; 2009; Couper, M. P., Tourangeau, R., Conrad, F. G.
- Survey Methodology (Wiley Series in Survey Methodology); 2009; Groves, R. M., Fowler, F. J., Couper, M. P., Lepkowski, J. M., Singer, E., Tourangeau, R.
- Social desirability bias in CATI, IVR and Web surveys: The effects of mode and question sensitivity; 2008; Kreuter, F., Presser, S., Tourangeau, R.
- Experiments Exploring the Relationship (or Lack Thereof) Between Nonresponse Error and Measurement Error...; 2008; Tourangeau, R., Groves, R. M., Presser, S., Toppe, C., Kennedy, K., Yan, T.,
- The Impact of the Spacing of the Scale Options in a Web Survey; 2008; Kennedy, C., Tourangeau, R., Conrad, F. G., Couper, M. P., Redline, C. D.
- Fast times and easy questions: the effects of age, experience and question complexity on web survey...; 2008; Yan, T., Tourangeau, R.
- Sensitive questions in surveys; 2007; Tourangeau, R., Yan, T.
- What is Sexual Harassment? It Depends on Who Asks! Framing Effects on Survey Responses; 2007; Galesic, M., Tourangeau, R.
- The Impact of the Visible: The Design of Web Surveys; 2007; Tourangeau, R., Couper, M. P., Conrad, F. G.
- How the shape and format of input fields affect answer; 2007; Couper, M. P., Tourangeau, R., Conrad, A.
- Experiments in Producing Nonresponse Bias ; 2006; Groves, R. M., Couper, M. P., Presser, S., Singer, E., Tourangeau, R., Piani Acosta, G., Nelson, Li.
- Color, Labels, and Interpretive Heuristics for Response Scales; 2006; Tourangeau, R., Couper, M. P., Conrad, F. G.
- An Experimental Comparison Of Web And Telephone Surveys; 2005; Fricker, S., Galesic, M., Tourangeau, R., Yan, T.
- Visual Context Effects in Web Surveys; 2005; Couper, M. P., Conrad, F. G., Tourangeau, R.
- Does Voice Matter? An Interactive Voice Response (IVR) Experiment; 2004; Couper, M. P., Singer, E., Tourangeau, R.
- Spacing, Position, and Order: Interpretive Heuristics for Visual Features of Survey Questions; 2004; Tourangeau, R., Conrad, F. G., Couper, M. P.
- Picture This! Exploring Visual Effects in Web Surveys; 2004; Couper, M. P., Tourangeau, R., Kenyon, K.
- Web-based data collection; 2003; Tourangeau, R.
- Cognitive Aspects of Survey Measurement and Mismeasurement; 2003; Tourangeau, R.
- Understanding the effects of audio-CASI on self-reports of sensitive behavior; 2003; Couper, M. P., Singer, E., Tourangeau, R.
- Humanizing self-administered surveys: experiments on social presence in web and IVR surveys; 2003; Tourangeau, R., Couper, M. P., Steiger, D. M., de Rouvray, C.
- Use and non-use of clarification features in web surveys; 2003; Tourangeau, R., P., Couper, M. P., Conrad, F. G., Baker, R. P.
- What They See Is What We Get: Response Options for Web Surveys; 2003; Couper, M. P., Tourangeau, R., Conrad, F. G., Crawford, S. D.
- Self-administered questions by telephone: Evaluating interactive voice response; 2002; Tourangeau, R., Steiger, D. M.,
- Collecting sensitive information with different modes of data collection; 1998; Couper, M. P., Tourangeau, R., Smith, T. W.
- Cognitive science and survey methods; 1984; Tourangeau, R.