Methods of conducting online surveys

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There are several basic methods for conducting online surveys: web survey software, survey design websites, and web hosting. Web Survey Software Web survey software includes software systems specifically designed for web questionnaire construction and delivery. In a typical use, the questionnaire is constructed with an easy-to-use edit feature, using a visual interface, and then automatically  transmitted to a web server system. The web server distributes the questionnaire and files responses in a database. The user can query the server at any time for completion statistics, descriptive statistics on responses, and graphical displays of data. Several popular online survey research software packages are IBM SPSS Quanquest, Sawtooth CiW, Infopoll, and SurveyGold.

Gaining Survey Completions Do-it-yourself software, such as IBM SPSS Quanquest, requires that you offer the respondent a good experience if you expect the person to complete the survey. The more engaged respondents are, the better quality insights they will provide. The following tips can help create a better experience for the interviewee:

•  As with any questionnaire, use language that is less “research-ese” and more conversational.
• Be honest and upfront about the time required to complete a study.\
•  Provide more opportunities for participants to provide open-ended answers and truly express themselves.
•  Ensure that all possible answer choices are given; avoid overuse of “other.”
•  Keep survey to less than 20 minutes in length and provide participants with progress information as they advance through the survey.
• Consider using graphics when possible or appropriate to make the experience more visually engaging.
•  Explore new ways to facilitate interaction between respondents and a researcher.
•  Make studies more informative participants are particularly motivated by acquiring new knowledge and information about a product or topic.
•  Offer participants the opportunity to be contacted again to receive updates on projects of products being tested.

How important are incentives in online research? And does the cosmetic appearance of the questionnaire have an impact on completion rates? Decipher Inc. conducted an online study to address these questions. It conducted a survey using a domestic customer list provided by eBay Inc. Over 1,900 eBay members participated in a 7-minute online survey. The recruits were sent an e-mail invitation containing a link that directed them to the survey. The study employed four parallel cells:

As can be seen from the setup, a comparison between Cell 1 and Cell 2 measured the effect of a plain versus fancy survey design. Color, the use of tables, and the right-aligned buttons distinguished the fancy from the plain survey design  A comparison between Cells 2 and 3 or Cells 2 and 4 measured incentive effects. Finally, a comparison between Cells 3 and 4 measured the effects of the different types of incentive: a cash prize drawing or a smaller, guaranteed cash incentive. The appearance of the survey had no measurable impact on the completion rate (in both instances, about 77 percent completed the survey). Nor did the type of incentiveaffect completion rates. However, either incentive boosted completion rates about 10 percent. For all four cells, dropouts occurred primarily over the first 90 seconds after a respondent entered the survey. Persons offered an incentive were significantly less likely to drop out during this period.

Survey Design and Web Hosting Sites Many websites allow the researcher to design a survey online without loading design software. The survey is then administered onthe design site’s server. Some offer tabulation and analysis packages as well. Popular sites that offer web hosting are WebSurveyor, Survey Monkey, Zoomerang, and Google Consumer Surveys.31 People in over 200 countries have responded to more than 33 million surveys produced by Survey Monkey.

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