Internet Surveys

1
Internet Surveys
2
Brief History

• E-mail was explored as a survey method in the
  late 80s and early 90s.
• The internet offered the possibility of
  multimedia surveys with more interactive
  features.

3
When should Online surveys be considered?

• The survey can be conducted with a convenience
  sample.
• The survey is being conducted in an organization
  that has a list of email addresses for the target
  population.
• The sample size is moderately large.

4

• The survey contains a lot of open-ended
  questions.
• The survey contains questions that are of a
  sensitive nature.

5
Types of internet surveys

• Convenience sampling
• Systematic sampling
• Probability sampling
• Volunteer or prerecruited panel

6
Benefits of Internet surveys

• Routing can save respondent's time.
• Validation.
• Cost.
• Time.

7
Types of questions

• https//surveys.bus.oregonstate.edu/bsgsurvey2_0/m
  ain.aspx?SurveyID504cmdsurvey

8
Limitations of internet surveys

• Not everyone has internet access or the skills to
  use it.
• Invitation email might be perceived as junk mail.
• People outside the target group could complete
  the survey.
• Require time and technological skill.

9
Are they faster?

• They can be.
• If respondents are contacted via email, they are
  generally faster.
• If respondents are contacted via mail or
  telephone, the response times are marginal at
  best.

10
Are they cheaper?

• They can be.
• Save on mailing costs.
• Higher programming costs.
• Cost of additional help-desk staff.
• High fixed costs, Low variable costs.

11
Are they easier to conduct?

• Internet surveys are more technically involved.
• Require more pretesting.
• Save on data entry.
• Without prior experience, they are often more
  work.

12
Tips for internet surveys

• List only a few questions per screen.
• Eliminate unnecessary questions.
• Use graphics sparingly.
• Reduce response errors by restricting response
  choices.
• Password protect your survey.
• Give respondents something in return.

13
Tips continued

• Automatically validate input.
• If a large number of respondents are contacted
  via e-mail, stagger the e-mail invitations.

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Where can I create an internet survey?

• BSG
• www.questionpro.com
• www.websurveyor.com
• www.web-online-surveys.com
• www.quask.com
• www.vanguardsw.com/vista/
• www.zapsurvey.com

15
Sources

• Conducting Research Surveys vie E-mail and the
  Web.
• Schonlau, Matthias, Ronald Fricker, and Marc
  Elliott. Conducting Research Surveys via E-mail
  and the Web. Santa Monica, CA RAND, 2002.
• Internet Data Collection.
• Best, Samuel, and Brian Krueger. Internet Data
  Collection. Thousand Oaks, CA Sage Publications,
  Inc., 2004.