Term Paper on "Response Effects of Electronic Surveys"

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Extant literature has been dedicated to response effects of electronic surveys. Kiesler and Sproull (1986) carried out an electronic survey to determine the response effects of electronic surveys. In their survey respondents were presented with a program that could process text in the carrying out their self-administered, computer-based questionnaires. They noted that the increase in the number of computer users in the society has made the use of electronic survey to become common place. They noted that this form of survey has the benefits of reduced costs of processing since it involves the automated transformation of the data that is presented in a form that can be read by the computers.Kiseler et al. further noted the advantages of electronic surveys and they pointed out that this form of surveying has the merit of bringing together the advantages of interviews and paper mail surveys. The advantages include promptness and the ability of this form of survey to bring about complex branching. The other advantages that are derived from the paper mail into the electronic survey systems are the fact that the system is standardized and anonymous at the same time. The core matter in this paper is the way in which the electronic surveys affect the responses of the respondents to whom it is administered. Kiesler et al. (1986) conducted an experimental sample survey to investigate the health attitudes, behaviors and the traits (personal) by means of two forms of administration. The used the paper mail and the electronic forms of survey. They discovered that the administration of closed-end responses in the electronic survey method was regarded by the respondents as being socially undesirable and were regarded as being extreme wh

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ile the administration using the paper mail was regarded by the respondents as being more desirable and less extreme. However, open-ended responses gave the respondents the opportunity to edit their opinions but had the demerit of being relatively long and more hence lead to more disclosure. Their findings were in fact similar to the results obtained from studies investigating other forms of computer mediated communication.

The field of survey research has been greatly impacted by the internet and the number of electronic surveys has increased as well. The principles that guide the implementation and construction of these surveys are unknown unlike surveys done via the telephone and traditional mail. However research has shown that many of the same principles apply to electronic surveys With the wide format of internet survey additional research is needed to define these principles for the effective use, design and implementation of internet surveys.

Three common forms of internet surveys are discussed here. There are different forms of surveys from simple email surveys to sophisticated systems. Disk by mail format is one of the earliest forms of internet surveys. This approach involved sending a disk containing the survey to the respondents. Instructions involve opening the file completing the survey and mailing the disk back to the researcher. These surveys had the ability to interactively guide the respondent through the survey. In additional these surveys can offer very many innovative features but cost and time in terms of programming are a hindrance. Furthermore these surveys are limited by the technological capability of the respondent's computer and the fear of downloading malicious software.

Another type of survey discussed here is the email survey. The survey is conducted through an email message or as an attached file. (Bradley 1999)They are quick and require little technological know how. Respondents are required to reply the email. However some researchers found out that some respondents had difficulties in remembering to reply the email before answering the survey or they had trouble in downloading and converting attachment. Another disadvantage is that they raise privacy issues since the respondents email address is included as part of the response

A third type of survey involves posting the survey to the World Wide Web. The email message is sent to the respondents with a link containing the URL to the survey. These surveys can be designed in such a manner they include a wide variety of response options. Their advantages are numerous in terms of analysis of data. Its is easy to download these programmes into a statistical analysis programme. However these surveys require the greatest amount of technological knowledge. They therefore need skilled technologists who can design web surveys. It is interesting to note that survey methodology professional have not been behind the aggressive use of internet surveys. The hurdle has been the ability to tailor proper principles of survey design and implementing these on electronic surveys (Dillmann and Bowker).In conclusion to fully acquire the potential of the internet for designing and implementing surveys professional with a background on survey methodology must take a leading role.

The use of computers in surveying involves the use of a program that is designed to administer the various questions and to act as the point of collection of the various answers as replied by the respondents. There are various methods administering the survey. The first method includes the gathering of the respondents in a central point and then letting them answer the various questions at the computer. The second method includes the carrying out of survey on an installed network belonging to an organization. The third method includes the use of a specialized program that can be saved on a disk in order to allow different respondents to execute the program in their own computers and then take the survey. The respondents then return the disk. Extant literature has been dedicated to the various methods of collecting data on electronic surveys.Kiesler and Sproull (1986) discusses the gathering of the respondents in one central point and then presenting them with the survey. The results obtained in their study had a touch on the effects of response of electronic surveys. The consensus is that the use of electronic surveys has more socially desirable results as compared to the paper and pencil method of surveying (Booth-Kewley, Rosenfeld, and Edwards, 1993 Beebe, Mika, Harrison, Anderson, and Fulkerson, 1997).

Computers in surveying has been shown to have better results as compared to the use of the other traditional paper and pencil techniques of data survey (Booth-Kewley, et al. 1992)as indicated by a study conducted by Kiesler and Sproull (1986) that shown that the use of closed end responses in the carrying out of electronic surveys were regarded by the respondents as being less socially desirable and were considered as being extreme in comparison with the responses obtained from the paper and pencil-based counterparts.

A lot of research has been dedicated to the design of various forms of survey. There has been various studies that were focused on the factors that influence the response to various forms of surveys such as telephone and surveys (Dillman, 1978) the work of various researchers have outline the importance of taking into account various elements of design in the process of coming up with the various types of surveys. Our intention in this paper is however centered on the effects of response to electronic survey. We are therefore restricted to the discussion of the design consideration in the coming up with various forms of electronic surveys. It is important to come up with designs that are pleasing to the respondents in order to fully capture their attentions which are important to participating in the survey and the collection of the accurate results. Apart from the importance that should be accorded to the design of the electronic surveys it is also important to ensure that the number of questions is moderated and strategically placed in order of importance. It is also important to perform some basic tasks such as respondent pre-notification in personalized e-mails so as to generate higher rates of response.

The process of designing the survey must be pegged on good design practises. In order to ensure that there is a large number of quality respondents it is important to ensure that the electronic survey can be supported by multiple operating systems and web browsers (Yun & Trumbo, 2000). It is also paramount to ensure that the electronic survey is designed so as to present the various survey questions in a manner that is both adaptive and logical to the ( Kehoe & Pitkow, 1996).The survey must also be able to present the respondent with the opportunity to participate in long questionnaires. ( Over 50 questions) as postulated by Smith ( 1997 ).The survey should also be designed in order to collect and submit results for questions that are either quantifiable and also those that require the typing of the correct answer.

The principles that must be employed in the process of designing the paper and pencil-based surveys must be applied in part when designing the email surveys. The design of the questionnaire screen design is somehow complicated since it entails an expert knowledge of scripting and coding in various programming languages. The web-based surveys do however present the researcher's with a format that is friendly and hence… READ MORE

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Quoted Instructions for "Response Effects of Electronic Surveys" Assignment:

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This paper needs to be a literature review on response effects of electronic surveys. Below is an outline of what the lit-review should focus on.

(1) Survey design,

*****¢ Survey*****s welcome screen should be motivational

*****¢ The first questionnaire screen should not be the place to give a long series of instructions.

*****¢ Make sure to provide clear and concise instructions

*****¢ Prevent multiple submissions [Yun & Trumbo, 2000], affects validity of survey results.

o Establish a log in ID, but be sure that it is not too complicated

*****¢ BUT provide multiple opportunities for saving the work in long questionnaires (e.g., over 50 questions) [Smith, 1997]

*****¢ have the ability to present questions in a logical or adaptive manner, if needed [Kehoe & Pitkow, 1996]

o do not ask for exact demographic data instead provide a range by utilizing an overlapping scale

o collect both quantified selection option answers and narrative type question answers [Yun & Trumbo, 2000]

o Provide sufficient space for open ended question answers

o Using *****check all that apply***** questions may bias respondents***** b/c they tend to continue reading until they have provided what seems to be a satisfactory answer or they don*****t read all of the answer choices before going on to the next question (Krosnick et al, 1996). Therefore making such question type undesirable. Moreover, such question structure may create measurement problems?

o Survey should not require respondents to provide answers to each question before being allowed to answer any succeeding ones (Dillman et al, 1999).

o Try to avoid open-ended questions b/c this may increase attrition rate.

ï‚§ Especially open-ended questions that require multiple items in the answers (Crawford et al., 2001).

ï‚§ As well as questions that are arranged in tables (Knapp, 1999).

*****¢ Keep in mind that the survey does not use advanced programming features

o b/c may require more powerful computers (better software)

o may take longer to download questionnaires if there is too much graphics, animation and color enhancements

*****¢ Avoid using estimation of completion time tools and respondents ability to see the number of pages may create psychological fatigue.

*****¢ Provide feedback *****thank-you***** upon completion of the survey [Smith, 1997].

(2) Subject privacy and confidentiality

*****¢ The main point regarding privacy and confidentiality is the need for balance (Andrews et al., 2003).

*****¢ Two types of privacy to consider in electronic survey

o Physical privacy

ï‚§ Be mindful about how pre-notification and follow up procedures are constructed for the survey (it may be perceived as violating individuals physical computer space)

*****¢ Might be seen as SPAM (junk mail) b/c of published mass mailing

o Informational privacy

ï‚§ When surveys do not allow control over the conditions of release, use, retention, and disposal of personal data

Andrews, 2003 outlines ways to lessen such breach of privacy issue in surveys.

*****¢ Disguise actual email addresses with pseudonym address

*****¢ Offer e-incentives as a trade off for the intrusion

*****¢ Disclose sampling procedures

*****¢ Post survey results or summaries of results

*****¢ Establish credibility in subject lines and opening statements

*****¢ Provide the choice *****rather not say***** for sensitive questions

*****¢ If possible guarantee confidentiality but not anonymity

o No one will see your personal data but only the researches will know who you are.

*****¢ Explain the method for keeping confidentiality to the survey taker

(3) Issues with response rates

*****¢ Types of respondents (Bosnjack and Tuten, 2001)

o Complete responders

o Unit responders (do not participate at all)

o Lurkers (view but do not answer questions)

o Lurking drop outs (view some but not all of the survey)

o Item non-responders (only answer some of the questions, but complete the survey)

o Item non-responding drop outs (answer some questions, but drop out before completing)

*****¢ What affects response rates?

o Level of technical difficulty (Couper, 2000).

o Lack of survey salience (Watt, 1999)

ï‚§ Respondent needs to feel that the usefulness of questionnaire

o Inability to inspect the survey documents prior to completing it (Crawford et al., 2001).

ï‚§ Provide scroll down screen to mitigate this

o Attrition rate is also impacted by location of the requested personal data in the survey

ï‚§ If requested at the end an increase in attrition rate

ï‚§ When requested at the beginning of survey rather than the end allows the subject to avoid a negative surprise (Frick et al., 1999).

*****¢ Beginning may be perceived as honest on part of the researcher.

o How respondents are invited to the survey and how survey completion is encouraged through reminders.

ï‚§ Inform the amount of time to complete survey

ï‚§ Use frequent reminders to complete survey

*****¢ Type and number of reminders must be customized to the targeted population

ï‚§ Web survey should be preceded by an email invitation make sure to use appropriate subject line

*****¢ Combining invitation with the survey has shown increase in attrition and low response rate (Smith, 1997).

*****¢ Helpful tools to increase response rate

o motivating subject to complete a survey increases as questions difficulty increases

ï‚§ Respondents should see some clear benefit to answering the questions.

o make sure that the questions are answerable

ï‚§ Need to be simple, unambiguous and written in a language so that the targeted population understands.

ï‚§ Avoid asking intrusive or impertinent questions.

o Respondents***** ability to answer decreases if they feel that they are exerting too much mental effort with questions.

ï‚§ Try to minimize judgment based questions

o Pre-test the survey helps

ï‚§ to eliminate bias question/answer wording

ï‚§ find inconsistent wording

ï‚§ flush out from requesting in appropriate demographic data

ï‚§ avoid inaccurate or missing instruction

ï‚§ identify technical vocabulary w/no definitions

ï‚§ to avoid insufficient space for open-ended question answers

ï‚§ to highlight lack of motivational techniques to go to the survey and/ or complete it.

o Issues associated with response rate

ï‚§ Calculation of response rate is a disputed issue for electronic surveys

*****¢ Exclusion of unreachable respondents from the sample

o b/c internet surveys allow researchers o recognize a large portion of undeliverable or unreachable respondents, they have reported response rate by excluding such respondents from the sample size.

*****¢ Internet based survey is difficult to determine sample size

o Survey may be connected to multiple related mailing list therefore instead of reporting the response rate some researchers have reported the number of response.

ï‚§ Low and slow response rate

*****¢ How does it happen?

o Internet based surveys are self administered therefore respondents tend to *****drop out***** before completing survey b/c of lack of human contact.

ï‚§ What techniques improve this limitation?

*****¢ Utilize combination of survey methods (paper, email follow up)

o Validity and appropriateness of methods

ï‚§ what factors may influence this?

*****¢ Validity of respondents

o Issues with *****drop out***** respondents

ï‚§ These survey results are affected b/c a large portion of survey replies are unusable b/c many respondents do not provide answers to some questions.(Zhang, 1999).

ï‚§ Large amount of non-response

*****¢ However, it the researcher can provide why this may be and still be sure that the pool of respondents is representative of the larger population, then can use the

o Most internet surveys, the messages are very likely to reach unintended individuals

ï‚§ Ex. Participants can forward questionnaires to other unintended respondents.

ï‚§ If survey is posted to a public internet site it could be reached by anyone who has web browser w/internet connection

*****

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