scholarly journals Web Survey’s Completion Rates: Effects of Forced Responses, Question Display Styles, and Subjects’ Attitude

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-29
Author(s):  
Chatpong Tangmanee ◽  
Phattharaphong Niruttinanon
Keyword(s):  
Completion Rate ◽  
Web Survey ◽  
Completion Rates ◽  
Web Surveys ◽  
Design Features ◽  
Questionnaire Item ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Forced Responses ◽  
High Completion Rate ◽  
Practical Recommendations

In anticipating a high completion rate for web surveys, researchers must be attentive to the design features, two of which are the forced responses (i.e., 100%-, 50%, or 0%-forced) and the questionnaire item display (i.e., paging or scrolling). Moreover, the respondents’ favorable attitude towards questionnaires is a key factor driving them to complete the questionnaires. However, no studies have examined the effects of these three variables on web survey completion rates. This research thus attempts to fill this gap. Using a quasi-experiment, we obtained 401 responses to six (i.e., 3 levels of forced responses x 2 display styles) comparable online questionnaires with identical contents. The analysis confirmed the statistically significant effects of the forced responses, the item display and the subjects’ attitudes toward questionnaires on completion rates. In addition to extending theoretical insights into the factors leading to a web survey’s completion rates, practical recommendations are suggested based on the findings.

Examining Completion Rates in Web Surveys via Over 25,000 Real-World Surveys

2017 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 116-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingnan Liu ◽  
Laura Wronski
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Survey Design ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Completion Rate ◽  
Question Type ◽  
Web Survey ◽  
Completion Rates ◽  
Web Surveys ◽  
Survey Length ◽  
The Impact

A survey’s completion rate is one of its most important data quality measures. There are quite a few published studies examining web survey completion rate through experimental approaches. In this study, we expand the existing literature by examining the predictors of web survey completion rate using 25,080 real-world web surveys conducted by a single online panel. Our findings are consistent with the literature on some dimensions, such as finding a negative relationship between completion rate and survey length and question difficulty. Also, surveys without progress bars have higher completion rates than surveys with progress bars. This study also generates new insights into survey design features, such as the impact of the first question type and length on completion rate.

scholarly journals Effects of Different Types of Progress Indicators on Drop-Out Rates in Web Surveys

2009 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Uwe Matzat ◽  
Chris Snijders ◽  
Wouter van der Horst
Keyword(s):  
Survival Analysis ◽  
Completion Rate ◽  
Drop Out ◽  
Web Survey ◽  
Web Surveys ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Online Access ◽  
Drop Out Rates

The present study analyzes whether and how different types of progress indicators affect the tendency of respondents to continue filling out a web survey, focusing on whether the progress indicators’ effects depend on the position of the respondent in the questionnaire. Using a sample of 2460 respondents of a Dutch online access panel, we analyze three kinds of progress indicators (linear, fast-then-slow, slow-then-fast, and a control condition) using survival analysis. The results show that the effect of the indicators on the completion rate is either negative or nonexistent, depending on the questionnaire length. Moreover, the effect of an indicator does not depend on the position of the respondent in the answering process. We interpret our findings in terms of the implicit narrative between survey designer and respondent.

Using Placeholder Text in Narrative Open-Ended Questions in Web Surveys

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanja Kunz ◽  
Franziska Quoß ◽  
Tobias Gummer
Keyword(s):  
Visual Stimulus ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Design Feature ◽  
Visual Design ◽  
Web Survey ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Web Surveys ◽  
Design Features ◽  
High Quality

Abstract Narrative open-ended questions are suitable for gathering detailed information without limiting respondents to a predefined set of response categories. However, despite efforts to improve the quality of open-ended responses using different verbal and visual design features, respondents are often unwilling to expend effort on substantive and comprehensive responses. Based on a Web survey experiment conducted with opt-in panelists in Germany, we test whether placeholder text (i.e., lorem ipsum) in the answer box of a narrative open-ended question can be used as a visual stimulus to promote high-quality responses without discouraging respondents from answering the question. We find that, although placeholder texts that suggest long and extensive responses elicit more extensive responses, they also result in longer response times and less substantive responses. As the disadvantages of such lengthy placeholder texts thus appear to outweigh their advantages, we advise against using them. We further find that shorter placeholder texts do not provide any additional benefits. These findings also suggest that any kind of visual design feature should always be tested thoroughly before use.

scholarly journals Sample Representation and Substantive Outcomes Using Web With and Without Incentives Compared to Telephone in an Election Survey

2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 165-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver Lipps ◽  
Nicolas Pekari
Keyword(s):  
Computer Literacy ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Web Survey ◽  
Completion Rates ◽  
Web Surveys ◽  
Unit Costs ◽  
Variable Bias ◽  
Sample Representation ◽  
Different Levels ◽  
The Web

Abstract The objective of this article is to understand how the change of mode from telephone to web affects data quality in terms of sample representation and substantive variable bias. To this end, an experiment, consisting of a web survey with and without a prepaid incentive, was conducted alongside the telephone Swiss election survey. All three designs used identical questionnaires and probability samples drawn from a national register of individuals. First, our findings show that differences in completion rates mostly reflect different levels of coverage in the two modes. Second, incentives in the web survey strongly increase completion rates of all person groups, with the exception of people without Internet access or limited computer literacy. Third, we find voting behavior to be much closer to official figures in the web with the incentive version compared to the two other designs. However, this is partly due to the different sociodemographic compositions of the samples. Other substantive results suggest that the incentive version includes harder-to-reach respondents. Unit costs are much lower in the two web designs compared to the telephone, including when a relatively high incentive is used. We conclude that in countries with high Internet penetration rates such as Switzerland, web surveys are already likely to be highly competitive.

scholarly journals Paper, E-mail, or Both? Effects of Contact Mode on Participation in a Web Survey of Establishments

2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (6) ◽  
pp. 750-765 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph W. Sakshaug ◽  
Basha Vicari ◽  
Mick P. Couper
Keyword(s):  
Response Rate ◽  
Population Based ◽  
High Response Rate ◽  
Nonresponse Bias ◽  
Web Survey ◽  
Participation Rates ◽  
Web Surveys ◽  
Contact Mode ◽  
Mail Address ◽  
E Mail

Identifying strategies that maximize participation rates in population-based web surveys is of critical interest to survey researchers. While much of this interest has focused on surveys of persons and households, there is a growing interest in surveys of establishments. However, there is a lack of experimental evidence on strategies for optimizing participation rates in web surveys of establishments. To address this research gap, we conducted a contact mode experiment in which establishments selected to participate in a web survey were randomized to receive the survey invitation with login details and subsequent reminder using a fully crossed sequence of paper and e-mail contacts. We find that a paper invitation followed by a paper reminder achieves the highest response rate and smallest aggregate nonresponse bias across all-possible paper/e-mail contact sequences, but a close runner-up was the e-mail invitation and paper reminder sequence which achieved a similarly high response rate and low aggregate nonresponse bias at about half the per-respondent cost. Following up undeliverable e-mail invitations with supplementary paper contacts yielded further reductions in nonresponse bias and costs. Finally, for establishments without an available e-mail address, we show that enclosing an e-mail address request form with a prenotification letter is not effective from a response rate, nonresponse bias, and cost perspective.

scholarly journals A Metacognitive MOOC Framework

2019 ◽  
pp. 234-250
Author(s):  
Jennifer Roberts ◽  
Ignatius Gous
Keyword(s):  
Service Quality ◽  
Research Paper ◽  
Content Delivery ◽  
Completion Rate ◽  
Measurement Scale ◽  
Completion Rates ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Learner’S Perspective

MOOC completion rates are well documented as being very low, in most cases, between 5% to 15% (Greene, Oswald, Pomerantz, 2015; Jordan, 2014). Many reasons have been suggested for the low completion rate. This paper investigates the thesis that one of the predictors of the low completion rates, is that students are not satisfied with the overall experience (structure, content, delivery, etc.) of the MOOC. According to the SERVQUAL measurement scale of satisfaction, service quality can be defined as the difference between expectations and actual experiences. The argument put forward in this paper is that service quality will be enhanced if students’ expectation of the MOOC is well understood and that they are properly prepared for what to expect when undertaking the MOOC. This paper follows from an already accepted research paper featuring an auto ethnographic journey of undertaking a MOOC. The author proposed a metacognitive MOOC framework, from a learner’s perspective, based on her MOOC journey. In this paper, this metacognitive MOOC framework is examined in terms of reflective as well as practical components, to assist prospective MOOC students to be prepared for the experience and enhance their satisfaction with their MOOC.

scholarly journals Evaluation of User Reactions and Verification of the Authenticity of the User’s Identity during a Long Web Survey

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (22) ◽  
pp. 11034
Author(s):  
Evgeny Nikulchev ◽  
Alexander Gusev ◽  
Dmitry Ilin ◽  
Nurziya Gazanova ◽  
Sergey Malykh
Keyword(s):  
Network Models ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Web Survey ◽  
Web Surveys ◽  
Neural Network Models ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Interface Elements ◽  
Electronic Learning ◽  
The Given

Web surveys are very popular in the Internet space. Web surveys are widely incorporated for gathering customer opinion about Internet services, for sociological and psychological research, and as part of the knowledge testing systems in electronic learning. When conducting web surveys, one of the issues to consider is the respondents’ authenticity throughout the entire survey process. We took 20,000 responses to an online questionnaire as experimental data. The survey took about 45 min on average. We did not take into account the given answers; we only considered the response time to the first question on each page of the survey interface, that is, only the users’ reaction time was taken into account. Data analysis showed that respondents get used to the interface elements and want to finish a long survey as soon as possible, which leads to quicker reactions. Based on the data, we built two neural network models that identify the records in which the respondent’s authenticity was violated or the respondent acted as a random clicker. The amount of data allows us to conclude that the identified dependencies are widely applicable.

scholarly journals Going web or staying paper? The use of web-surveys among older people

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanne Kelfve ◽  
Marie Kivi ◽  
Boo Johansson ◽  
Magnus Lindwall
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Good Alternative ◽  
Web Survey ◽  
Response Patterns ◽  
Older Individuals ◽  
Web Surveys ◽  
Paper Questionnaire ◽  
Age Range ◽  
Web Questionnaire ◽  
The Web

Abstract Background: Web-surveys are increasingly used in population studies. Yet, web-surveys targeting older individuals are still uncommon for various reasons. However, with younger cohorts approaching older age, the potentials for web-surveys among older people might be improved. In this study, we investigated response patterns in a web-survey targeting older adults and the potential importance of offering a paper questionnaire as an alternative to the web questionnaire. Methods: We analyzed data from three waves of a retirement study, in which a web-push methodology was used and a paper questionnaire was offered as an alternative to the web questionnaire in the last reminder. We mapped the response patterns, compared web- and paper respondents and compared different key outcomes resulting from the sample with and without the paper respondents, both at baseline and after two follow-ups.Results: Paper-respondents, that is, those that did not answer until they got a paper questionnaire with the last reminder, were more likely to be female, retired, single, and to report a lower level of education, higher levels of depression and lower self-reported health, compared to web-respondents. The association between retirement status and depression was only present among web-respondents. The differences between web and paper respondents were stronger in the longitudinal sample (after two follow-ups) than at baseline.Conclusions: We conclude that a web-survey might be a feasible and good alternative in surveys targeting people in the retirement age range. However, without offering a paper questionnaire, a small but important group will likely be missing with potential biased estimates as the result.

A Practical Approach to Theory Structuring and Analysis

2012 ◽  
pp. 271-297
Author(s):  
T. Schwartzel ◽  
M. M. Eloff
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Sample Size ◽  
Research Methodology ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Completion Rate ◽  
Research Proposal ◽  
Practical Approach ◽  
Data Generation ◽  
Completion Rates ◽  
Data Capturing

A large proportion of students who enroll for postgraduate degrees never finish their studies, with non-completion rates yielding 30% for a sample size of 2000 students. A number of empirical studies have been conducted indicating the possible factors for the non-completion rate. This chapter briefly highlights such factors and proposes a possible solution to increase the number of successful studies using relevant philosophies and problem-solving to build insight in determining IS/IT solutions and innovations. A research methodology is suggested to enable data capturing aligned to research objectives and organise sub-problem solving effectively. The process of finding information, determining if it is relevant, and then relating it to existing keywords and topics can be facilitated by using a spreadsheet as a data generation method. The outcome may lead to a research proposal and study to investigate the problem identified, search for possible solutions, and prove/disprove the validity of the suggested solutions.

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