Article

The Role of Topic Interest and Topic Salience in Online Panel Web Surveys

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Abstract

Invitations to web surveys sent out through online access panels usually do not mention the topic of the survey, in order to reduce the risk of expert bias. This study aims to elucidate whether online access panel members use the information on survey topic provided in email invitations in their participation decision and its influence on data quality. In a preliminary study, data about the personal interests of 1,660 panel members were collected. Panellists were then assigned to participate in one of two surveys, receiving emails with different amount of information on the survey topic. The influence of personal topic interest and topic salience on participation behaviour and data quality was measured. Evidence is presented that personal interest in the topic influences participation behaviour and data quality in online panels. Panellists who had been enrolled in the online panel for six months or less were more willing to participate if the topic of the survey was announced in advance.

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... This is because online panel members Additionally, in nonprobability-based samples the relationship between the sample and the panel population is unknown, so it is not possible to estimate how representative the sample is of the population as a whole. Thus, our research may have suffered from respondentrelated biases; for example, people for whom vaccination issues are particularly salient may have been more prone to participate 61 . Consequently, responses may have been more polarised, both in favour and against of vaccination. ...
... This is because the relationship between the sample and the non-probability online panel population is often unknown, so it is not possible to estimate how representative the sample is of the population as a whole. Therefore, our research may have suffered from respondentrelated biases; for example, people for whom vaccination issues are particularly salient may have been more prone to participate 61 . Consequently, responses may have been more polarised, both in favour and against of vaccination. ...
... to survey e-mail invitations from the online panel provider60,61 . ...
... Factors affecting survey response rates include whether potential participants find the survey topic interesting (Keusch, 2013). Specifically, Keusch (2013) found (in the context of online access panels) that potential respondents who were highly interested in the survey topic were more likely to participate in the survey than less-interested potential respondents. ...
... Factors affecting survey response rates include whether potential participants find the survey topic interesting (Keusch, 2013). Specifically, Keusch (2013) found (in the context of online access panels) that potential respondents who were highly interested in the survey topic were more likely to participate in the survey than less-interested potential respondents. Consequently, Keusch's (2013) findings suggest that online panel respondents as a group may be more representative of people who find the survey topic interesting than they are representative of a cross-section of people with varying interests in the topic. ...
... Specifically, Keusch (2013) found (in the context of online access panels) that potential respondents who were highly interested in the survey topic were more likely to participate in the survey than less-interested potential respondents. Consequently, Keusch's (2013) findings suggest that online panel respondents as a group may be more representative of people who find the survey topic interesting than they are representative of a cross-section of people with varying interests in the topic. Notably, motivating factors beyond an interest in the survey topic influence the participation of potential survey respondents in an online panel (Brüggen, Wetzels, de Ruyter, & Schillewaert, 2011). ...
Thesis
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In the context of social media, the ubiquitousness of the online social networking site (SNS) affects human civilization in education, entertainment, commerce, law, medicine, news, politics, and elsewhere. However, little is known about the extent that users’ social capital or SNS group membership moderate the relationship between usage behavior and usage time across different SNSs. Three research questions and 18 null hypotheses guide this quantitative, non-experimental study that examines the relationship between SNS usage behavior and usage time, while considering the potential moderation of both social capital and SNS group membership on that relationship. Online surveys of Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest users limited data collection to 745 adult survey participants in the United States aged 18 years or older. The study revealed the following: (a) Particular usage behavior types contributed significantly to SNS usage time; (b) structural, cognitive, affective/evaluative, and relational social capital dimensions moderated the relationship between SNS usage behavior and usage time differently among Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest; and (c) SNS group membership moderated the relationship between SNS usage behavior and usage time for LinkedIn and Pinterest only. The findings of the study contribute to social media research and social capital theory (SCT) while providing practical perspectives for SNS stakeholders.
... demonstrate that survey fatigue exists among university students invited to multiple Web surveys. Schillewaert and Meulemeester (2005) Mixed results for invitations sent via mail vs. e-mail; samples drawn from online panels more likely to participate than samples drawn from other online sources Bandilla et al. (2012), Bosnjak et al. (2008), Dykema et al. (2011), Felix et al. (2011), Hart et al. (2009), Kaplowitz et al. (2004, Kent and Brandal (2003), Keusch (2012), Lozar , Porter and Whitcomb (2007), Wiley et al. (2009) Prenotification via offline media enhances response rates in Web surveys; mixed findings for effect of e-mail prenotifications Timing of invitation Faught et al. (2004), Göritz (2014), Sauermann and Roach (2013) Invitations sent on Wednesday morning yield highest response rates; invitations sent on weekend are not immediately returned; higher Web survey participation in winter Sender/sponsor Bosnjak and Batinic (1999), Boulianne et al. (2011), Fang et al. (2009, Guéguen (2003), Guéguen et al. (2005), Guéguen and Jacob (2002a, b), , , Pan et al. (2013), Keusch (2012), Whitcomb (2003b, 2007), Sutherland et al. (2013), Tuten (1997), Tourangeau et al. (2009 Relationship between invitation sender and recipient, familiarity of sponsor, trust in sponsor, reputation of sponsor and survey provider, and authority of sender influence participation decision; mixed findings for academic vs. non-academic sender/sponsor; female senders increase participation in male populations Subject line Edwards et al. (2009), Kent and Brandal (2003), Kaplowitz et al. (2012), Keusch (2013), Mavletova et al. (2014), Porter and Whitcomb (2005a), Trouteaud (2004), Tuten (1997) Promoting incentives and references to survey have negative effect while appeals for help and referencing an authority figure have positive effect on participation Invitation message Cook et al. (2000), Crawford et al. (2001), Edwards et al. (2009), Greif and Batinic (2007), Stieger (2009), Heerwegh (2005), Heerwegh and Loosveldt (2002, 2003, Heerwegh et al. (2005), , , Kaplowitz et al. (2012), Kent and Brandal (2003), Klofstad et al. (2008), Mavletova et al. (2014), Messer and Dillman (2011), Porter and Whitcomb (2003b), Sánchez-Fernández et al. (2012), Sauermann and Roach (2013), Whitcomb and Porter (2004), Wiley et al. (2009) Mixed findings for personalization of invitation, length of message, and whether or not deadline for participation is stated; having to type in password upon questionnaire access reduces willingness to participate Göritz (2014), Göritz and Crutzen (2012), Keusch (2012), Klofstad et al. (2008), Lozar Manfreda et al. (2008), Miksza et al. (2010), Porter and Whitcomb (2007), Sánchez-Fernández et al. (2012), Sauermann and Roach (2013), Shih and Fan (2008), Wiley et al. (2009) Sending e-mail reminders increases participation but reminders reach an early saturation point; postal reminders do not increase participation in Web surveys ...
... Membership surveys in online panels confirm that topic is one of the most crucial factors when deciding on survey participation (Postoaca 2006). However, experimental studies find inconclusive results about the influence of topic interest on participation in online panel Web surveys (Keusch 2013;Tourangeau et al. 2009). ...
... Recent research on participation motives and behavior in online panels shows that positive attitudes toward surveys in general lead to higher Web survey participation (Bosnjak et al. 2005;Brüggen et al. 2011;Haunberger 2011;Keusch et al. 2014). Additionally, several studies find that individuals show consistency in their (non)participation behavior across Web surveys over several waves (Göritz 2008;Haunberger 2011;Petrova et al. 2007;Peytchev 2011;Svensson et al. 2012) and in multiple surveys in an online panel (Göritz 2014;Keusch 2013). ...
Article
In recent years Web surveys have emerged as the most popular mode of primary data collection in market and social research. To improve our understanding about the influence of different societal-level factors, characteristics of the sample person, and attributes of the survey design on participation in Web surveys, this paper establishes a systematic link between theoretical frameworks used to explain survey participation behavior and state-of-the-art empirical research on online data collection methods. The concepts of self-perception, cognitive dissonance, commitment and involvement, social exchange, compliance, leverage-salience, and planned behavior are discussed and their relationship with factors that have empirically proven to influence Web survey participation are analyzed using data from an expert survey. This paper will help researchers and practitioners to make informed decisions about the use of techniques increasing participation in Web surveys.
... Therefore, respondents who find the survey topic interesting show a higher response rate than less interested respondents. Moreover, the respondents who are less interested in the survey topic are more likely to produce item nonresponse as reported by Martin (1994) in a mail survey while individuals with high interest in the survey topic tended less to straight-lining in online panels (Keusch, 2013). To examine the effect of the topic on a systematic tendency to SDR, the present study adopts the leverage-salience theory (Groves et al., 2000) which explains the potential effects of survey attributes on survey participation. ...
... However, some other studies reported significant sponsor effects on response rate and data quality (Jones, 1979;Ladik et al., 2007;Tourangeau et al., 2009). For the survey topic, Keusch (2013) reported null effects of survey topic salience on survey participation and data quality in an online panel experiment. ...
Article
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Research in survey methodology indicates that survey attributes, such as topic and sponsor influence survey participation and data quality. This paper primarily aims to examine whether such attributes influence socially desirable responding in an online survey setting, a setting which is less studied in the literature than face-to-face interview settings with regards to social desirability. To achieve this aim, it empirically tests the effects of survey topic, survey sponsor, introduction interest, and perceived topic sensitivity on socially desirable responding (SDR) across a range of items in a questionnaire. The survey experiment is based on a convenience sample of higher education students who filled out an online self-administered questionnaire, which also included a short version of the Marlowe-Crowne SDR scale. The findings showed that the tendency to SDR does not significantly differ by survey topic and sponsor. However, it varies by introduction interest, and intriguingly, more interested respondents demonstrated a higher tendency to SDR. Also, the tendency to SDR marginally differed by the perceived topic sensitivity.
... The flexibility in time for answering surveys likely also depends on individual factors such as interest in the survey topic and age. Previous research has shown that interest in the survey topic can be predictive of participation (Groves, Presser & Dipko, 2004;Keusch, 2013). This, in turn, may indicate timing sensitivity; interested individuals may be more likely to prioritize the survey over other activities than those less interested in the topic. ...
... Panel tenure is included because previous research has shown that panel tenure can take out effects of other variables on participation. Effects of topic interest, for example, seem to disappear when the panel members have been enrolled in the panel for 6 months or longer (see Keusch, 2013). ...
Article
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Falling participation rates is one of the most significant challenges facing survey research today. To curb this negative trend, scholars have searched for factors that can increase and decrease citizens’ willingness to participate in surveys. In this article, we investigate the timing effects of survey invitation e-mails on participation rates in a university-based online panel with members of the Swedish public. Through two large-scale experimental studies, we examine whether the day of week (N = 11,294) and time of day (N = 47,279) for sending out survey invitations impact participation rates. We also ask respondents when they prefer to answer surveys. We find that the timing of survey invitations affects participation rates, however, the effects are small, short-lived, and even out within a week. We also find that the effects of timing vary by employment status and age. The results have implications for scholars and practitioners who utilize online panels for web surveys. When quick answers are important, there may be some limited gains of tailoring the timing of the survey invitation to different individuals. In surveys with more extended field periods, however, such efforts seem less warranted.
... However, although the response rate to online surveys is relatively low in general, it is often even lower in nonprobability online panels (Tourangeau, Couper, & Steiger, 2003). Also, online panel members pay less attention to the attributes of survey e-mail invitations from a known source (i.e., the online panel provider) than people outside an online panel who receive a comparable invitation to participate in an online study (Keusch, 2013;Tourangeau, Groves, Kennedy, & Yan, 2009). Common methods to ensure high survey response rates (e.g., monetary response incentives) may thus be less effective in online panel settings. ...
... Over the last decade, the use of nonprobability online panels in market and academic research has increased (Brügge et al., 2012). However, the survey response rate in online panels is often relatively low (Tourangeau et al., 2003), and members of online panels pay less attention to the attributes of survey e-mail invitations from a known source (i.e., the online panel provider) than nonmembers who receive comparable invitations (Keusch, 2013;Tourangeau et al., 2009). Salient survey research questions thus pertain to the collection of data in online survey panels. ...
Article
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Identifying ways to efficiently maximize the response rate to surveys is important in survey-based research. However, evidence on the response rate effect of donation incentives and especially altruistic and egotistic text appeal interventions is sparse and ambiguous. Via a randomized survey experiment among 6,162 members of an online survey panel, this article shows how low-cost incentives and cost-free text appeal interventions may affect the survey response rate in online panels. The experimental treatments comprise (a) a cash prize lottery incentive, (b) two donation incentives that promise a monetary donation to a good cause in return for survey response, (c) an egotistic text appeal, and (d) an altruistic text appeal. Relative to a control group, we find higher response rates among recipients of the egotistic text appeal and the lottery incentive. Donation incentives yield lower response rates.
... The limited response rate increases the potential for response bias. Clinicians who were more interested in this topic may have been more likely to respond [42]. As a result, our findings may overestimate engagement with FI because non-responders may be less engaged with issues covered in our study. ...
Article
Full-text available
Background/Objectives: In 2022, 17.3% of US households with children experienced food insecurity (FI). The objective of this study was to examine pediatric clinicians’ FI screening and management immediately following the release of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) 2015 FI Policy Statement. Methods: Data were collected in 2016 from 85 primary care pediatric clinicians via an online survey of clinicians in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Descriptive statistics were calculated using univariate/bivariate analyses. Fisher’s exact test and Chi-square tests were used to explore the association between FI screening, health insurance, and clinician demographics. Results: Sixty-six percent of clinicians indicated that they infrequently screened for FI. Only 13% of clinicians used a standardized FI screening tool. Forty-five percent of clinicians screened for FI only when they perceived an acute concern. About 70% of them screened for FI when a patient presented with poor weight gain or was underweight. Conclusions: Immediately after the release of the AAP Policy Statement, it was found that few pediatric clinicians appropriately and frequently screened for FI in our regional sample. Our data emphasize the common misconceptions held by clinicians around FI and the necessity to incorporate training that underscores the invisibility of FI along with effective techniques to screen and intervene.
... In terms of participants' personal characteristics, a recent empirical study suggested that respondents assigned to the careless responder class are more likely to be male, younger, unmarried, college-educated, and have higher incomes (Schneider et al., 2018). In other studies, personal interest in the research topic (Keusch, 2013) or higher academic and cognitive ability (Rosen et al., 2017) predicted better response quality. The sensitivity of the research topic has been highlighted in several papers. ...
Article
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Online surveys are widely used in social science research as well as in empirical studies of open, online, and distance education. However, students' responses are likely to be at odds with their actual behavior. In this context, we examined the discrepancies between self-reported use and actual use (i.e., learning analytics data) among 20,646 students in an open, online, and distance education system. The ratio of consistent responses to each of the 11 questions ranged from 43% to 70%, and the actual access to learning resources was significantly lower than self-reported use. In other words, students over-reported their use of learning resources. Females were more likely to be consistent in their responses. Frequency of visits to the open, online, and distance education system, grade point average, self-reported satisfaction, and age were positively correlated with consistency; students' current semester was negatively correlated with consistency. Although consistency was not maintained between actual use and self-reported use, consistency was maintained between some of the self-report questionnaires (i.e., use vs. satisfaction). The findings suggested that system and performance data should be considered in addition to self-reported data in order to draw more robust conclusions about the accountability of open, online, and distance education systems.
... Those who are more interested in politics also tend to be more attentive to political news vis-à-vis other (non-political) topics (Lupia and Philpot 2005), are more likely to vote (Grönlund and Setälä 2007), and participate more often in surveys (Brehm 1993). If political interest serves as a motivational prerequisite for political participation in general, similar mechanisms may be at work with respect to topic interest when it comes to survey participation (Keusch 2013). ...
Article
Objective With response rates of large‐scale surveys having decreased significantly over the years and rebounds seeming unlikely, many studies now examine how response rates vary with methodological design and incentives. This investigation delves into how individual‐level factors shape survey participation. Specifically, we examine the influence of individuals’ democratic engagement and their trust in institutions on intent to participate in surveys, both directly and indirectly through their perceptions of surveys. Methods We collected survey data from a probability sample of adults ( N = 1343) in Mannheim, Germany, from November 2019 to March 2020. Structural equation models were estimated to test the hypothesized relationships. Results The analyses support most, but not all, hypothesized relationships. Democratic engagement bolstered intent to participate, directly as well as indirectly through perceptions of surveys. Institutional trust, on the other hand, only influenced the outcome measure indirectly. Perceptions of surveys had a strong bearing overall effect on intent to participate. Conclusion The study's results suggest that the response rates and larger issues related to the perceived legitimacy of public opinion and survey research might be intertwined with orientations related to people's civic and political life. The article discusses potential ways survey researchers can counteract distrust in surveys.
... Tourangeau et al. (2004) found less differentiation in responses when questions were presented in matrix grids than when each item was presented on a separate page. Research has also shown that satisficing increases when the survey topic is sensitive (Roster et al., 2017) or uninteresting to respondents (Groves et al., 2004;Keusch, 2013). ...
Chapter
According to a recent international survey of market research firms (Macer and Wilson 2017), over 60% of all online surveys now rely on panel samples. Recently, market researchers have called for greater efforts on improving the online survey experience (Cooke 2011; Walker 2013). The benefits of such efforts are two-fold. First, data quality has been shown to be higher among respondents who are intrinsically as opposed to extrinsically motivated (Brüggen et al. 2011; Callegaro et al. 2015). Second, pleasant survey experiences help to assure marketers have access to a large, representative pool of panelists willing to repeatedly participate in online surveys.Research has explored how graphics, visuals, and interactivity can be embedded into survey elements as a means of increasing respondents’ engagement and enjoyment with the survey experience (e.g., Couper et al. 2004, Dolnicar et al. 2013; Downes-Le Guin et al. 2012; Gummer et al. 2020). More advanced approaches include incorporating elements of online gaming into survey contexts, called “gamification” (e.g., Pulleston 2012) or the similar notion of “surveytainment” (e.g., Krostyk et al. 2019), which adds entertainment-oriented features to the survey’s design. A number of studies have reported minimal or no effects of these elements on quantitative measures of survey engagement, or worse, unintended bias or negative consequences such as lower response quality or higher administrative costs (e.g., Callegaro et al. 2015).The study examined the effect of using Internet memes to improve online survey respondents’ engagement and data quality. Field experiments were conducted with two different U.S. samples, one (n = 250) purchased from Prolific and another from Qualtrics (n = 935). Respondents answered a 13-minute survey about environmental attitudes. Half were randomly assigned to a control condition (no memes) and the other half saw memes of animals with motivating messages like "your opinions matter," or "we appreciate your help" at transitional points during the survey. We assessed effectiveness using both behavioral and self-report measures of data quality and survey engagementWe found few statistically significant differences between conditions across both samples. There was no evidence that the memes impaired data quality or added to respondents’ burden. Open-ended comments revealed that respondents found the memes to be motivating and engaging. In conclusion, it appears that memes are a relatively low-cost way to give respondents a cognitive break from answering questions and showing appreciation for their efforts.KeywordsInternet surveysMemesSurvey engagementPanels
... Diese Effekte sind jedoch in der Umfrageforschung bekannt und kein Spezifikum der Erhebungen von Marketagent (siehe für weiterführende Diskussionen u. A.:Keusch 2013Keusch , 2015Kittel et al. 2020a).Da es sich bei dem ACPP um eine Panelstudie handelt, wird auf Veränderungen in der Verteilung zwischen den Wellen kontrolliert. Denn typischerweise entscheidet sich in jeder Welle ein Teil der Befragten, nicht an weiteren Befragungen teilzunehmen und scheidet aus dem Panel aus. ...
Chapter
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Zusammenfassung Ziel von sozialwissenschaftlichen Umfragen ist es inhaltlich relevante und für die jeweilige Population aussagekräftige Daten zu generieren. Die Corona-Krise hat die Umfrageforschung in mehrfacher Hinsicht vor Herausforderungen gestellt: 1) Es war aufgrund der Rahmenbedingungen während der Pandemie nicht möglich etablierte Erhebungsformen, wie das Face-to-Face-Interview, zu nutzen. 2) Aufgrund der spezifischen Dynamik der Krise war es ebenso unmöglich, längerfristig Erhebungsmethode, Datenerhebungsinstrumente und die Umsetzung der Studien zu planen. Das folgende Kapitel präsentiert mit dem Austrian Corona Panel Project und der österreichischen Values in Crisis Umfrage die zwei zentralen Erhebungen, auf denen der Sammelband Österreich in der Corona-Krise. Ergebnisse aus sozialwissenschaftlichen Umfragen aufbaut. Neben einer Vorstellung der Erhebungsdesigns werden überblicksartig Informationen zur Datenqualität der Erhebungen präsentiert.
... Indeed, several previous studies have found that personal interest of participants in the topic is one of the major predictor of participation behaviour (Edwards, 2002;R. Groves, Presser, & Dipko, 2004;Keusch, 2013). Therefore, although future studies must validate this hypothesis, people who value Stimulation and Hedonism might tend to continue to participate in longitudinal research because they find more joy and excitement in it. ...
Article
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Participant dropout poses significant selectivity problems in longitudinal studies. Although it is often assumed that participant's value structures predict future participation and dropout, there is insufficient evidence supporting this proposition. This study aims to contribute to the literature by clarifying the relationship between participants' personal values and study dropout. Data of the 2008 baseline sample of the German Aging Survey was used to predict future survey (non-)participation in subsequent follow-ups (N = 4442). Personal values were measured using the Portraits Value Questionnaire. It was found that different values had differential effects on survey dropout: Whereas higher Power, Achievement, Security and Conformity values predicted increased odds of dropout, higher Benevolence, Self-Direction, Universalism, Stimulation and Hedonism values predicted decreased odds. Additionally, being older and having lower income were also associated with increased dropout. Therefore, participants' personal values seem to have major influence on participant's study participation behaviour, with values relating to pro-social behaviour having the strongest effects. Given the importance of personal values in human behaviour, longitudinal research must account for these relationships for providing accurate scientific findings.
... Key drivers identified in this body of literature include survey length (e.g., Haunberger, 2011;Sax, Gilmartin, & Bryant, 2003), interest in the topic (Brüggen et al., 2011;Huang, Hubbard, & Mulvey, 2003;Keusch, 2013;Zillmann, Schmitz, Skopek, & Blossfeld, 2014), desire to voice one's opinion, curiosity, enjoyment, the desire to help, recognition and a feeling of obligation to complete the survey (Brüggen et al., 2011), personalized invitations to complete a survey (Joinson & Reips, 2007;Sánchez-Fernández, Muñoz-Leiva, & Montoro-Ríos, 2012;Sauermann & Roach, 2013), the number of reminders (Sánchez-Fernández et al., 2012), other design features of the survey invitation (de Bruijne & Wijnant, 2014;Sauermann & Roach, 2013), trust or the relationship with the organization conducting the survey (Fang, Shao, & Lan, 2009), and questionnaire design (Tangmanee & Niruttinanon, 2015). ...
Preprint
Low survey participation from online panel members is a key challenge for market and social researchers. We identify 10 key drivers of panel members’ online survey participation from a qualitative study and then determine empirically using a stated choice experiment the relative importance of each of those drivers at aggregate and segment levels. We contribute to knowledge on survey participation by (a) eliciting key drivers of survey participation by online panel members, (b) determining the relative importance of each driver, and (c) accounting for heterogeneity across panel members in the importance assigned to drivers. Findings offer immediate practical guidance to market and social researchers on how to increase participation in surveys using online panels.
... In accordance with survey research (Keusch 2013, Marcus et al . 2016, it seems also likely that students' willingness to share additional information may depend on the nature of the information that they are asked to provide. ...
Chapter
Given its ability to handle a large amount of data, artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to improve data-driven decisions under various situations. The present research identifies the necessary conditions for the implementation of an AI-based advisory system (AS) in higher education. Using a factorial survey design, we examine experimentally varied features of an AI-based AS to explore students’ willingness to use it and students’ willingness to share their data as a core challenge for successful implementation. Theoretically, we focus on the perceived costs and benefits to explain students’ intention, but we also highlight the role of trust and privacy concerns in regard to collecting data for the AS. In terms of benefits, information about the predictive power of the AS significantly increases students’ intention to use the tool and to share data and thus offers an incentive for students to share data. Moreover, a disproportionately long survey duration and survey topics that seem unrelated to the AS reduce students’ willingness to share data. With respect to trust and privacy concerns, our results indicate that providing transparent information about the AS has no effect on students’ willingness to share data, while aspects regarding who has access to the AS results and a long period of data storage reduce students’ intentions to share data. Based on these findings, we advise universities to communicate students’ expected benefits from a system to implement the AS, but we also recommend seriously considering students’ privacy concerns. Who has access to the data and the results of the AS should be transparent, as well as for what reason and how long. Otherwise, a substantial and probably selective part of the student body may not use the tool or share data due to privacy concerns.
... 15 The distribution of income in the two samples is depicted in Fig. 2, which shows that the 2019 distribution is shifted to the right with respect to that of 2014, and only partially overlaps with it. 11 Speeders were defined as any respondent who completed the survey in less than 48% of the median length of interview, following the recommendation by Survey Sampling International (SSI 2013;Mitchell 2014) or Keusch (2013). A total of 53 and 59 respondents were classified as speeders in the 2019 and 2014 surveys, respectively. ...
Article
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We assess the reliability and validity of estimates of the Value per Statistical Life (VSL) from contingent valuation by administering the same contingent valuation (CV) questionnaire on samples drawn from the population of the Czech Republic five years apart. We use a novel approach in eliciting the WTP for cancer mortality risk reduction, in that we present respondents with two probabilities—that of getting cancer, and that of surviving it. We find that the cancer VSL is somewhat different across the two samples, but this difference is completely explained by income and cancer dread. The WTP is proportional to the size of the cancer mortality risk reduction, and increases with income and with cancer dread. The income elasticity of the VSL is 0.5 to 0.7, and is thus in line with the findings in Masterman and Viscusi (2018). Our estimates of the VSL (approximately €3–4 mill. May 2019 PPP euro) are close to Viscusi and Masterman’s prediction (2017) based on compensating wage studies, less than the estimates from compensating wage studies conducted in the Czech Republic, and similar to estimates from other stated preference studies in the Czech Republic. We conclude that the CV questionnaire and administration procedures produce reliable and stable results, and that construct and criterion validity are likewise good. We interpret these findings as providing support for an approach that expresses very small mortality risks and risk reductions as the product of two probabilities.
... However, more recent research is contradicting this finding, indicating it can even lead to active refusal to participate in a survey (Brenner et al., 2020;Sappleton & Lourenço, 2016)-as individuals do not want to open emails with blank subject lines. More recent research also suggests that naming the survey topic in the subject line does not seem to have an effect (Keusch, 2013), but a subject line that includes the name of the sponsor can increase participation as respondents might have feelings of affinity with the sponsor or it can exhibit authority (Boulianne et al., 2010;Brenner et al., 2020;Guéguen et al., 2010;Kaplowitz et al., 2012;Keusch, 2015;Petrovčič et al., 2016)-in our case, the university. As such, we expect that indicating the university that organizes the survey (Tilburg University in this case) in the subject line can increase the validity of the email and thus web survey participation (Hypothesis 1). ...
Article
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In higher education institutions, web surveys are frequently used for educational, research, and administrative purposes. One of the consequences of this is increasing oversurveying of higher education students, leading to low response rates. This naturally has important implications for the validity of web survey results. Consequently, we set up a methodological experiment at Tilburg University, the Netherlands, whereby the total student population was invited to participate in a web survey in order to investigate which features of contact design can positively influence web survey participation. We particularly focus on subject line content, the communication of deadlines and their timing, as well as the delays between contact moments. The results reveal that students were more likely to respond to a web survey invitation when the subject line is written in the national language in multilingual contexts. Furthermore, although the findings did not indicate an advantage of using a deadline, they also suggested that if a deadline is to be used, a longer deadline might be more beneficial.
... Key drivers identified in this body of literature include survey length (e.g., Haunberger, 2011;Sax, Gilmartin, & Bryant, 2003), interest in the topic (Brüggen et al., 2011;Huang, Hubbard, & Mulvey, 2003;Keusch, 2013;Zillmann, Schmitz, Skopek, & Blossfeld, 2014), desire to voice one's opinion, curiosity, enjoyment, the desire to help, recognition and a feeling of obligation to complete the survey (Brüggen et al., 2011), personalized invitations to complete a survey (Joinson & Reips, 2007;Sánchez-Fernández, Muñoz-Leiva, & Montoro-Ríos, 2012;Sauermann & Roach, 2013), the number of reminders (Sánchez-Fernández et al., 2012), other design features of the survey invitation (de Bruijne & Wijnant, 2014;Sauermann & Roach, 2013), trust or the relationship with the organization conducting the survey (Fang, Shao, & Lan, 2009), and questionnaire design (Tangmanee & Niruttinanon, 2015). ...
Preprint
Low survey participation from online panel members is a key challenge for market and social researchers. We identify ten key drivers of panel members’ online survey participation from a qualitative study, then determine empirically using a stated choice experiment the relative importance of each of those drivers at aggregate and segment level. We contribute to knowledge on survey participation by (1) eliciting key drivers of survey participation by online panel members, (2) determining the relative importance of each driver, and (3) accounting for heterogeneity across panel members in the importance assigned to drivers. Findings offer immediate practical guidance to market and social researchers on how to increase participation in surveys using online panels.
... Tourangeau et al. (2004) found less differentiation in responses when questions were presented in matrix grids than when each item was presented on a separate page. Research has also shown that satisficing increases when the survey topic is sensitive (Roster et al., 2017) or uninteresting to respondents (Groves et al., 2004;Keusch, 2013). ...
Article
This study explored the influence of Internet memes, specifically image macros of animals with motivational captions, on survey respondents’ engagement with the survey-taking experience and subsequent data quality. A web-based field experiment was conducted with online survey respondents from two sample sources, one crowdsourced, and one commercially managed online panel. Half of the respondents from each sample source were randomly selected to see the memes at various points throughout the survey; the other half did not. Direct and indirect measures of survey engagement and response quality were used to assess effectiveness of the memes. Quantitative results were inconclusive, with few significant differences found in measures of engagement and data quality between respondents in the meme or control condition in either sample source. However, qualitative open-ended comments from respondents who saw the memes in both sample groups revealed that memes provide respondents a fun break and relief from the cognitive burdens of answering online survey questions. In conclusion, memes represent a relatively inexpensive and easy way for survey researchers to connect with respondents and show appreciation for their time and effort.
... In other words, ICT support reduces the risk of errors. This theme supports the "Use of ICTs in scientific research reduces the risk of bias" finding of Keusch (2013). In addition, Bond and Ramsey (2010) state that using ICTs during the research process allows bias-free and objective data collection and analysis processes, which leads to increased validity and reliability. ...
Article
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The purpose of this phenomenological research was to evaluate the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in mixed method research (MMR) in education from a educational researchers’ methodological perspective. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 educational researchers. The data were analyzed by thematic content analysis. Nine themes were identified in the interviews with educational researchers. The most emphasized contribution of ICTs was found to be about data collection. Six of the themes explained the need for new data collection tools and positive evaluations of ICTs on triangulation and transformation of data by collecting massive, in-depth and original data for MMRs. Two themes were about the role of the researcher in MMRs. Educational researchers argued that the use of ICTs in MMRs can support collaborations among researchers and reduce researcher limitations. Finally, educational researchers underlined the critical importance of the discovery of new MMR models in digital age.
... In addition, effects of topic interest on response in surveys that are made up of a mix of various topics are unclear (Goyder 1987). Scarce research shows that topic interest has effects on participation in web surveys (Couper 2005), while findings in access panels are mixed (Keusch 2013, Tourangeau et al. 2009). ...
... Key drivers identified in this body of literature include survey length (e.g., Haunberger, 2011;Sax, Gilmartin, & Bryant, 2003), interest in the topic (Brüggen et al., 2011;Huang, Hubbard, & Mulvey, 2003;Keusch, 2013;Zillmann, Schmitz, Skopek, & Blossfeld, 2014), desire to voice one's opinion, curiosity, enjoyment, the desire to help, recognition and a feeling of obligation to complete the survey (Brüggen et al., 2011), personalized invitations to complete a survey (Joinson & Reips, 2007;Sánchez-Fernández, Muñoz-Leiva, & Montoro-Ríos, 2012;Sauermann & Roach, 2013), the number of reminders (Sánchez-Fernández et al., 2012), other design features of the survey invitation (de Bruijne & Wijnant, 2014;Sauermann & Roach, 2013), trust or the relationship with the organization conducting the survey (Fang, Shao, & Lan, 2009), and questionnaire design (Tangmanee & Niruttinanon, 2015). ...
Article
Low survey participation from online panel members is a key challenge for market and social researchers. We identify 10 key drivers of panel members’ online survey participation from a qualitative study and then determine empirically using a stated choice experiment the relative importance of each of those drivers at aggregate and segment levels. We contribute to knowledge on survey participation by (a) eliciting key drivers of survey participation by online panel members, (b) determining the relative importance of each driver, and (c) accounting for heterogeneity across panel members in the importance assigned to drivers. Findings offer immediate practical guidance to market and social researchers on how to increase participation in surveys using online panels.
... Sociology research provides evidence that the topic of a survey is a major factor of respondent participation (Heberlein and Baumgartner 1978). Furthermore, marketing research shows that that personal interest in the survey topic not only influences respondent behavior but it also affects data quality (Keusch 2013). In order to increase survey response and improve data quality, researchers have to ensure that practitioners are interested in the topic of surveys. ...
Article
Researchers have anecdotally noticed the decline in response rates from accounting professionals (particularly auditors) across time. We document the extent of this decline and analyze the trends and the correlated situational and demographic variables. We conduct our analysis of articles published in Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory and Current Issues in Auditing from 1981 to 2016 and gather data on 75 articles that report response rates. The analysis shows a noticeable and statistically significant decrease in the response rates for auditors. Overall, the analysis illustrates a decline in the response rates from auditors that should be of concern to both the academic and auditing practitioner communities. We examine key drivers of the response rate and offer recommendations for improving the survey response of auditors.
... Therefore, our research may have suffered from respondent-related biases; for example, people for whom vaccination issues are particularly salient may have been more prone to participate. 56 Consequently, responses may have been more polarised, both in favour and against of vaccination. Future studies testing our findings using different sampling strategies, such as the use of probability online panels or random digit dialling, are warranted. ...
Article
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Objectives Despite continuous efforts to improve influenza vaccination coverage, uptake among high-risk groups remains suboptimal. We aimed to identify policy amenable factors associated with vaccination and to measure their importance in order to assist in the monitoring of vaccination sentiment and the design of communication strategies and interventions to improve vaccination rates. Setting The USA, the UK and France. Participants A total of 2412 participants were surveyed across the three countries. Outcome measures Self-reported influenza vaccination. Methods Between March and April 2014, a stratified random sampling strategy was employed with the aim of obtaining nationally representative samples in the USA, the UK and France through online databases and random-digit dialling. Participants were asked about vaccination practices, perceptions and feelings. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with past influenza vaccination. Results The models were able to explain 64%–80% of the variance in vaccination behaviour. Overall, sociopsychological variables, which are inherently amenable to policy, were better at explaining past vaccination behaviour than demographic, socioeconomic and health variables. Explanatory variables included social influence (physician), influenza and vaccine risk perceptions and traumatic childhood experiences. Conclusions Our results indicate that evidence-based sociopsychological items should be considered for inclusion into national immunisation surveys to gauge the public’s views, identify emerging concerns and thus proactively and opportunely address potential barriers and harness vaccination drivers.
... Women entrepreneur negotiating styles offered to potential participants beyond heightening the salience of the research by explaining the importance of the topic and dearth of knowledge about how women business owners engage in contract negotiation for private equity. Recent research in the field of marketing has shown that respondents were more likely to respond if topic interest and salience were heightened (Keusch, 2012). As discussed above, the survey was originally developed in 2010 using SurveyMonkey ® , but in the summer 2012, we moved to capture data on Qualtrics, an alternative platform for web survey development with expanded capability, particularly in analytic functionality. ...
Article
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Purpose – The purpose of this study is to explore an optimal research design for research on women entrepreneurs involved in negotiating term sheets for private equity capital. This research explores new ways for researchers to connect with such current “invisibles” through the use of a mixed method and mixed mode research design to expand sampling options and secure respondent participation. The authors discuss existing data sets that have been used as secondary sources for data on financing of companies and consider their inadequacy for research questions about process issues in negotiation. The authors present process-related findings regarding the efficacy of the research design. Design/methodology/approach – This paper reviews research on research methodology, incorporating a discussion of practices outside of the entrepreneurship discipline to discover effective practices for identifying respondents and data not currently captured in entrepreneurship data sources. The respondents were found through social media sites, angel networks, University networks and via identification through a proprietary financial intelligence database. Findings – An optimal research design to identify women business owners of growth-oriented firms who have negotiated private equity should consider mixed methods designs and mixed modes, including the use of digital networks that signal to potential respondents that research is being done. Research limitations/implications – Although the authors developed the multi-method, mixed mode (MMMM) research design, the sample size is still relatively small. This raises concerns about generalizability to the larger population and limits statistical analysis more suitable with larger data sets. However, the MMMM research design has enabled the authors to reach a difficult target sample. It has proven effective, although a longer time frame would have been helpful. Research limitations/implications – All of the large scale databases in entrepreneurship have limitations in providing optimal sampling frames for process-related research. The present research study was able to use conventional networks, social media sites and angel networks to connect with women business owners who have raised private equity, but who lack visibility in current data sets. The study shows that through the use of multiple methods, women entrepreneurs can be researched and some will share their experiences about process issues. The sample size was small and the quantitative data cannot be generalized. However, the methodology works and allows researchers to explore experiences that are not captured in existing data sets. Social implications – Entrepreneurship researchers can connect with “invisibles” by becoming more “social” and using social media sites that are used by women entrepreneurs. Researchers may not have immediate access to women entrepreneurs through these means, but rather they need to develop interpersonal contacts, build a social presence and trust to recruit respondents to complete online questionnaire studies about substantive topics such as negotiating term sheets for equity investments in their companies. Originality/value – This paper summarizes the “research on research methodologies” in entrepreneurship, reviews secondary data sources and discusses their limitations for specific types of research questions. A review of the value of MMMM research designs and best practices in online survey research outside of entrepreneurship provides insights into the incorporation of digital tools in other disciplines.
... Tests of leverage-salience theory have revealed personal interest in the study's topic (i.e., involvement/commitment) as a particularly important factor in predicting survey response patterns, including participation in HIV and sexuality research (Keusch 2013;Wallander et al. 2014). Individuals who hold unfavorable views of the survey's topic are unlikely to permit their teenagers to participate (Albaum et al. 1998). ...
Article
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To date, there is limited knowledge about how parents make decisions about adolescents' participation in sexuality research. This gap was addressed in the present study, which explored parents' reasons for providing or denying consent and their suggestions for improving the likelihood of consent. 151 parents responded through anonymous internet surveys (85.3 % mothers; 87 % European American). Those who would likely consent were largely motivated by potential benefits and limited risks of participating in the study. Those unlikely to consent expressed discomfort with sexual content, which they viewed as inappropriate for sexually-naïve adolescents. Most were somewhat more likely to consent if researchers engaged in ethical research practices (e.g., protecting confidentiality). As in other adolescent life domains, parents' decisions strongly reflected their desire to protect their teenagers' wellbeing, though respondents' means of pursuing this goal varied. The discussion centers on the findings' implications for theory development and recruitment efforts.
... Previous research has shown that respondents guess the purpose of each survey through the message communicated in the invitation and that in turn affect their responses (Tourangeau, Groves, Kennedy, & Yan, 2009). Also, respondents who are interested in the topic are more likely to participate than those who do not (Keusch, 2013). ...
Article
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This article investigates how webpages shown to respondents before they enter a self-administered survey impact whether and how they respond. Using the SurveyMonkey “end page,” a page that is displayed nearly 3 million times daily to survey respondents who have completed a user-created survey, this article examines whether the type of image and text that are displayed on the end page has a large impact on survey participation, whether different images/texts appeal to different types of respondents, and whether they render different substance responses. The topic of the survey is about the U.K. 2015 General Election. The findings show that when a concrete image/text combination is displayed, the click rate is lower than more general and abstract image/text combinations. The completion rates across different webpages are similar. We also find that the sample compositions and selected survey responses differ by different end pages. As a last step, we conducted poststratification in each condition separately to produce estimates that match known population proportions for selected demographic characteristics. After weighting adjustment, the differences in substantive responses disappeared or reduced, suggesting that different people drawn into the survey through different webpages contribute to the different substantive responses.
... Women entrepreneur negotiating styles offered to potential participants beyond heightening the salience of the research by explaining the importance of the topic and dearth of knowledge about how women business owners engage in contract negotiation for private equity. Recent research in the field of marketing has shown that respondents were more likely to respond if topic interest and salience were heightened (Keusch, 2012). As discussed above, the survey was originally developed in 2010 using SurveyMonkey ® , but in the summer 2012, we moved to capture data on Qualtrics, an alternative platform for web survey development with expanded capability, particularly in analytic functionality. ...
Article
WHERE we look for data determines WHOM we find. Women entrepreneurs employ a much lower percentage of external equity capital to finance their firms; they are also largely invisible in dominant data sources. This paper explores new ways for researchers to connect with such ‘invisibles’ through the use of social networks. The paper reviews research on research methodology, incorporating a discussion of practices outside of the entrepreneurship discipline to identify effective practices for identifying respondents and data not currently captured in entrepreneurship data sources. We recommend optimal research design to include mixed methods and mixed modes that incorporate digital and conventional networks to identify and connect with women business owners of growth oriented firms who have negotiated external equity. Using these methods we were able to connect with women business owners who have negotiated external equity. The methodology works but is time intensive. We generated a small sample size and are encouraged that our results provides an example of how to use digital networks to connect with difficult to identify or “invisible” respondents.
... The current article only covers the experiments conducted as part of wave 2, which were independent from all other experiments in the larger study. For more details on the two-wave large-scale experiment, see Keusch (2013). Respondents in these two experiments received one of two questionnaires that were identical in length, structure, and questions asked. ...
Article
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This article extends previous research on visual design effects in list-style open-ended questions, which ask respondents to name items of a specific category. I analyze differences in response behavior between formats that provide the respondent with one large answer box and those that provide 10 small answer boxes when asking the respondent about unaided brand awareness, controlling for demographic respondent characteristics and personal topic interest. In three experiments embedded in web surveys, respondents from a nonprobability online panel were randomly assigned to one of two question formats asking about unaided brand awareness of insurance companies (Experiment 1: n = 579), airlines (Experiment 2: n = 633), and car tires (Experiment 3: n = 604). The results indicate that respondents use cues from the answer box format of list-style open-ended questions to infer what the questionnaire designer expects from them as appropriate answers. When controlling for personal topic interest and respondent demographics, I found that the number of brands named and the time the respondents needed to give an answer to the question were significantly higher if 10 small answer boxes were presented, compared with just one large answer box in two of the studies. Additionally, respondents named more brands that were less accessible when provided with the 10 small answer boxes.
... Therefore, our research may have suffered from respondent-related biases; for example, people for whom vaccination issues are particularly salient may have been more prone to participate. 56 Consequently, responses may have been more polarised, both in favour and against of vaccination. Future studies testing our findings using different sampling strategies, such as the use of probability online panels or random digit dialling, are warranted. ...
Conference Paper
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Ana WheelockA Wheelock1, A Thomson2, B Rigole2, M Miraldo3, C Vincent4 and N Sevdalis11Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, UK2Sanofi Pasteur, Lyon, France3Business School, Imperial College, London, UK4Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UKContact: a.wheelock{at}imperial.ac.ukBackgroundMany adults fail to receive important immunisations. A recommendation from a doctor has consistently predicted vaccination uptake, whereas trust in social media and alternative medicine has been linked to vaccination refusal. This study investigated whether trust in key vaccination stakeholders and information sources was associated with vaccination.MethodsIn February 2014, a nationally representative sample (N = 800 per country) completed an electronic survey and structured telephone interviews. The outcome measures were self-reported vaccination behaviour for influenza (never, …
... Lo studio empirico ha utilizzato strumenti online, seguendo le linee guida del Digital Method Initiative (Rogers, 2009), con tecnica d'intervista strutturata diretta, basata su questionario CAWI (Computer Aided Web Interviews). Il questionario online, ha seguito le norme dell'inchiesta d'opinione elettronica (Sproull and Kiesler, 1986), riprendendo studi affini (Keusch, 2011) e contributi sulla gestione di online surveys (Couper, 2000;Simsek and Veiga, 2001;Evans e Marthur, 2005;Fricker and Schonlau, 2002). ...
Conference Paper
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The present research aimed to understand Facebook users’ perceptions of Facebook brand profiles. Research method, following Digital Method Initiative guidelines, was a survey on 423 Facebook users, using CAWI structured questionnaire divided into four main groups of questions. An useful profilation of Facebook users, their attitudes and expectations of the presence of the brand in Facebook, suggests important managerial implications for a successful communication in this social network. To cite: Grosso, Chiara and Paola Signori (2014), “Brand Conversation In Facebook: La Percezione Degli Utenti”, Proceedings of the annual International Marketing Trends 2014. Paris: ESCP Europe. ISBN 978-2-9532811-2-7.
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In today's world, which has been administered by computers and artificial intelligence in many areas, online data gathering has become an inevitable way of collecting data. Many researchers have preferred online surveying, considering the advantages of this method over the classical ones. Hence, the factors that may affect the response rate of online surveying have become a prominent research topic. In line with the popularity of this issue, the purpose of this chapter was to clarify the concept of online surveys; give information about their types, advantages, and usage; and investigate the factors that affect the participants' response behaviors. Besides the discussions on the theoretical framework of online surveying, an online survey aiming to determine the factors affecting the participation in online surveying was administered to a group of people to investigate the response behaviors thoroughly. The findings revealed that rs might affect ants' response behaviors to online surveys in various ways radically.
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Generalisierte Einstellungen gegenüber Befragungen sind ein wichtiger Erklärungsfaktor für die Teilnahme an Umfragen sowie die Kooperationsbereitschaft während einer Befragung. Deshalb überprüfen wir in einem Survey-Experiment erstens, inwiefern das entwickelte Kurzinstrument Survey Attitude Scale (de Leeuw et al., 2019) für Hochqualifizierte eingesetzt werden kann, und zweitens, ob sich messtheoretische Schwächen des Originalinstruments durch sprachliche Anpassungen und/oder die Hinzunahme zusätzlicher Items reduzieren lassen. Dieses Experiment wurde in die dritte Befragung des DZHW-Absolventenpanels 2009 im Jahr 2019 integriert. Im Ergebnis zeigt sich, dass die dreidimensionale Struktur für diese Befragtengruppe reproduzierbar ist. Gleichwohl führen sprachliche Adjustierungen zur Verbesserung des Messmodells. Eine Hinzunahme zusätzlicher Items führt hingegen nicht zur Verbesserung der internen Validität und Reliabilität des Instruments. Abschließend skizzieren wir das Potenzial der Survey Attitude Scale für die quantitativ-empirische Hochschulforschung.
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Zusammenfassung Menschen sind soziale Wesen, weshalb Kontakte zu anderen Personen einen wichtigen Beitrag für das eigene Wohlbefinden leisten. Durch die Corona-Krise dreht sich diese Vorstellung dagegen um – Abstand halten heißt das neue Gebot, um die Gesundheit zu wahren. Vor diesem Hintergrund untersuchen wir in diesem Buchbeitrag den Verlauf von Sozialkontakten und Wohlbefinden, sowie den Zusammenhang zwischen diesen beiden Konstrukten von Ende März bis Anfang Juli 2020. Wie erwartet zeigt sich ein sprunghafter Anstieg physischer sozialer Kontakte seit Anfang Mai und somit seit den damals eingeführten Lockerungsverordnungen. Gleichzeitig verringerten sich die nicht-physischen Sozialkontakte (via Telefon & Internet) seit dem 1. Lockdown kontinuierlich, was auf eine Substitution für physische Sozialkontakte hinweist. Affektives- und kognitives Wohlbefinden zeigen einen kleinen und gleichmäßigen Anstieg über diesen Zeitraum. Weitere Analysen weisen auf einen signifikanten aber geringen Einfluss von physischen Sozialkontakten auf das Wohlbefinden hin – der physische Kontakt zu Freunden und Verwandten führt demnach zu einem geringen Anstieg des Wohlbefindens. Weiterführende Vergleiche zwischen alleinlebenden und nicht-alleinlebenden Österreicher*innen zeigten, dass alleinlebende Personen häufiger auf nicht-physische Sozialkontakte zurückgriffen als physische Sozialkontakte durch restriktive Maßnahmen erschwert wurden.
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Zusammenfassung Eine wichtige Funktion der Religion im Verlauf der Menschheitsgeschichte liegt darin, die Menschen bei der Bewältigung existenziell bedrohlicher Lebenssituationen zu unterstützen. In einem prosperierenden Staat wie Österreich, mit einem funktionierenden Gesundheitssystem und einem etablierten Wohlfahrtsstaat, in dem die meisten relativ gut gegen ökonomische Risiken abgesichert sind, könnte die gegenwärtige Krise aber nur bedingt mit einer stärkeren Bedeutung von Religiosität und Spiritualität einhergehen. Andererseits könnten sich religiös und spirituell aktive Personen sowohl in der Krisenbewältigung, als auch in solidarischen Einstellungen von nicht religiösen Personen unterscheiden. Vor diesem Hintergrund werden im Beitrag anhand des Austrian Corona Panel Projekts (ACPP) vier Fragestellungen untersucht? 1) Ist die Religiosität in der Zeit der Covid-19-Pandemie im Vergleich zu den vorhergehenden Jahren in der Gesamtgesellschaft tendenziell gestiegen? 2) Führt eine starke gesundheitliche oder ökonomische Betroffenheit durch die Corona-Krise zu einer höheren Bedeutung von Religion und Spiritualität? 3) Wie wirken sich Religiosität und Spiritualität auf das emotionale Wohlbefinden, die Lebenszufriedenheit und die Strategien der Krisenbewältigung (Coping-Strategien) aus? 4) Unterscheiden sich religiöse, spirituelle und nicht religiöse Menschen in Hinblick auf ihre Haltung zur staatlichen Krisenpolitik, den Umgang mit den sozialen Distanzregelungen sowie dem Solidarverhalten gegenüber Menschen, die besonders von der Krise betroffen sind?
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Zusammenfassung In aktuellen sozialwissenschaftlichen Analysen wird vielfach angenommen, dass die Covid-19-Pandemie zu tief greifenden gesellschaftlichen Veränderungen führen könnte. Die Schlussfolgerungen sind jedoch nicht einheitlich. Einerseits wird ein gesellschaftlicher Wandel hin zu mehr Solidarität, zu einem stärkeren Sozialstaat und zu ökologischer und ökonomischer Nachhaltigkeit suggeriert, andererseits wird auch auf das Wiedererstarken des Nationalstaates und soziale Schließungsprozesse hingewiesen. In diesem Beitrag untersuchen wir mit einem Fokus auf die aktuelle Values in Crisis Studie 2020 und in Verbindung mit österreichspezifischen Daten aus weiteren repräsentativen Umfragen (z. B. European Social Survey ), ob sich ein Wertewandel in Hinblick auf die individuellen Grundwerte nach Schwartz beobachten lässt und wie sich dieser nach Generationen unterscheidet. Anschließend werden die Zukunftserwartungen und -wünsche der Österreicher*innen für die Zeit nach Corona analysiert und der Einfluss von soziodemografischen Faktoren, Werten und Einstellungen auf die Zukunftsvorstellungen untersucht.
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Zusammenfassung Die Corona-Krise hat deutlich gemacht, welche Berufe für die Aufrechterhaltung der Grundfunktionen in der österreichischen Gesellschaft von besonderer Bedeutung sind. Die sogenannten Systemerhaltenden im Sozial-, Gesundheits- und Pflegebereich sowie im Handel ernteten im ersten Lockdown viel Anerkennung vonseiten der Politik; im Zuge dessen wurden auch Stimmen laut, die für eine entsprechende finanzielle Honorierung des Einsatzes dieser Berufsgruppen eintraten. Der vorliegende Beitrag geht anhand des Vergleichs von Umfragedaten aus dem Jahr 2009 und Daten, die während der Corona-Krise erhoben wurden, der Frage nach, welche Einkommenshöhen die österreichische Bevölkerung für verschiedene Berufsgruppen als gerecht empfindet. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass sich die Befragten zu beiden Erhebungszeitpunkten für eine massive Reduktion der Einkommen von Eliteberufen (Manager*innen und Politiker*innen) aussprechen, während die Einkommen von statusniedrigen Berufen im Einzelhandel und in der Industrie, ihrer Ansicht nach, erhöht werden sollten. Während der Corona-Krise tritt diese Tendenz verstärkt zu Tage. Der Berufsgruppe der Allgemeinmediziner*innen wird hingegen zu beiden Zeitpunkten, insbesondere während der Corona-Krise, ein relativ hohes Einkommen zugestanden. Gleichzeitig ist in der Krise auch die Befürwortung eines bedingungslosen Grundeinkommens etwas höher, wobei die Bevölkerung in dieser Frage nach wie vor gespalten ist und sich zunehmend polarisierte.
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Zusammenfassung Mit der Covid-19-Pandemie, die das gesellschaftliche Leben ab März 2020 in Österreich massiv eingeschränkt hat, haben wir es mit der größten gesundheitlichen, ökonomischen und sozialen Herausforderung seit Jahrzehnten zu tun. Zunehmend rücken dabei auch die sozialen Folgen der Pandemie in den Fokus der Öffentlichkeit. Zusammenfassend umreißen wir in der Einleitung jene Themen, die in weiterer Folge auch in den Beiträgen im Vordergrund stehen. Es sind dies die weitreichenden Eingriffe der Pandemie in den Lebensalltag der Bevölkerung, Solidaritätspotentiale in der Gesellschaft, Dynamiken sozialer Ungleichheit sowie Werteverschiebungen und Zukunftserwartungen zur weiteren gesellschaftlichen Entwicklung. Das Ziel des vorliegenden Sammelbands ist es, empirische Befunde, die auf mehreren Umfrageprojekten während der Pandemie basieren, in die Gesellschaft zu tragen und dadurch tiefergehende Reflexionen über die österreichische Gesellschaft während der Corona-Pandemie zu ermöglichen.
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Zusammenfassung Um den Zugang zu diesem Buch auch für Personen zu erleichtern, die wenig Erfahrung mit quantitativer Sozialforschung haben, wird in diesem Glossar ein grundlegender Einblick in die Praxis der Umfrageforschung sowie in statistische Analysetechniken gegeben. Wir geben Hinweise, wie man soziale und politische Einstellungen in Umfragen erhebt und welche Möglichkeiten der statistischen Analyse vorliegen. Insbesondere komplexere Verfahren wie Regressionsanalyse, Faktorenanalsen, Reliabilitätsanalysen und Kontrastgruppenanalysen werden näher erklärt.
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Zusammenfassung Klare und korrekte Informationen sind in Krisensituationen von gesamtgesellschaftlicher Relevanz. Wie sich die Österreicher*innen während der ersten Welle der Covid-19-Pandemie informiert haben und welche medialen Informationsquellen sie als glaubwürdig beurteilten steht im Zentrum des Beitrags. Auf Basis der Values in Crisis -Studie kann gezeigt werden, dass sich das allgemeine Informationsverhalten in der Krise nur wenig verändert hat, aber der Einfluss der sozialen Ungleichheit auf die Mediennutzung im Vergleich zu vorherigen Studien weniger deutlich ausgeprägt ist. Das Fernsehen stellte erwartungsgemäß die wichtigste Informationsquelle für die befragten Österreicher*innen dar. Die Bedeutung von sozialen Medien und Onlinenachrichtenseiten nimmt aber kontinuierlich zu und ist, besonders bei jüngeren Personen, im Ansteigen begriffen. Effekte von sozialen Ungleichheiten zeigten sich bei der Beurteilung von Medieninhalten hinsichtlich ihrer Glaubwürdigkeit. Personen in besserer sozialer Position glauben eher journalistischen Nachrichtenquellen. Dies ist vor dem Hintergrund, dass journalistische Inhalte helfen sollten das gesellschaftliche Zusammenleben zu organisieren von Bedeutung. Die Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass weniger privilegierte Personengruppen medial übermittelte Handlungsanweisungen weniger glaubhaft finden und dementsprechend auch potenziell ihr Verhalten weniger stark an die Gegebenheiten anpassen als gewünscht.
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Zusammenfassung Der Beitrag widmet sich der Frage, wie sich die Lebensumstände auf persönlicher und gesellschaftlicher Ebene in den nächsten Jahren entwickeln werden. Konkret wird diskutiert, in welchen Bereichen von einer Verschlechterung ausgegangen wird und in welchen nicht? Welchen Einfluss hat dabei die wahrgenommene Gefahr durch Corona? Welche Determinanten für das Ausmaß von Zukunftspessimismus lassen sich darüber hinaus finden? Als empirische Grundlage werden Daten aus dem Austrian Corona Panel Project 2020 (ACPP) herangezogen. Die Corona-Krise führte zu einem Anstieg an Zukunftspessimismus. Je weiter der Bezugspunkt von den persönlichen Lebensumständen entfernt ist, desto pessimistischer fallen Erwartungen hinsichtlich deren Entwicklung in den nächsten Jahren aus. Es zeigen sich Unterschiede nach soziodemografischen Merkmalen und der wahrgenommenen gesundheitlichen, vor allem aber wirtschaftlichen Gefahr durch Corona. Zukunftserwartungen geben auch Auskunft über das wahrgenommene Potenzial einer Gesellschaft, Krisen zu bewältigen. Auch in der Krise scheint zu gelten: Wenn es gelingt, eine als gerecht wahrgenommen Verteilung von gesellschaftlichen Gütern zu gewährleisten und Vertrauen in Institutionen besteht, dann schlagen sich die aktuellen krisenbedingten Disruptionen weniger in pessimistischen Zukunftserwartungen nieder.
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Zusammenfassung Dieser Beitrag widmet sich der Frage, wie sich die Einstellungen zum Klimawandel, die Umweltbesorgnis und die Bereitschaft zu umweltbewusstem Handeln im Laufe der Corona-Krise in der österreichischen Bevölkerung entwickelt haben. In Anbetracht der unmittelbaren Bedrohung durch die Covid-19-Pandemie und deren direkte Auswirkungen auf die österreichische Bevölkerung (Herunterfahren der Wirtschaft, Einschränkungen des sozialen Lebens usw.) liegt die Vermutung nahe, dass das Thema Umwelt in den Hintergrund rückte. Um dies zu untersuchen, wurden drei voneinander unabhängige Datensätze ( OeNB, Values in Crisis und Polarization in Public Opinion) herangezogen. Die drei Datensätze sind in ihrer Erhebungszeit vor, während und nach der ersten Covid-19-Welle einzuordnen. Lineare Modelle zeigen, dass sowohl die Umweltbesorgnis als auch die Bereitschaft zu umweltbewusstem Verhalten in der Krise gesunken sind, wenngleich nur in den Ballungsräumen Wien, Niederösterreich und Steiermark. Andererseits stieg die Wahrnehmung der negativen Auswirkungen des Klimawandels an. Im Verlauf der Krise zeigt sich zudem, dass trotz der sinkenden Umweltbesorgnis diese dennoch der stärkste Prädiktor zu intentionsorientiertem Umweltverhalten bleibt und nach Ende der ersten Welle einen noch stärkeren Erklärungswert liefert als zuvor.
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Respondents who break off from a web survey prior to completing it are a prevalent problem in data collection. To prevent breakoff bias, it is crucial to keep as many diverse respondents in a web survey as possible. As a first step of preventing breakoffs, this study aims to understand breakoff and the associated response behavior. We analyze data from an annual online survey using dynamic survival models and ROC analyses. We find that breakoff risks between respondents using mobile devices versus PCs do not differ at the beginning of the questionnaire, but the risk for mobile device users increases as the survey progresses. Very fast respondents as well as respondents with changing response times both have a higher risk of quitting the questionnaire, compared to respondents with slower and steady response times. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of these findings for future practice and research in web survey methodology.
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Purpose-This study aims to investigate the preferences of 96 educational researchers on the use of digital technologies in scientific research. Design/methodology/approach-The study was designed as a quantitative-dominant sequential explanatory mixed-method research. Findings-Despite the spreading use of advanced technologies of big data and data mining, the most preferred digital technologies were found to be data analysis programs, databases and questionnaires. The primary reasons of using digital technology in scientific research were to collect data easily and quickly, to reduce research costs and to reach a higher number of participants. Originality/value-The use of digital technologies in scientific research is considered a revolutionary action, which creates innovative opportunities. Through digitalized life, probably for the first time in history, the educational researchers have analytical information, which we can benefit from more than the individual's own statements in research involving human factor. However, there are a few studies that investigated the preferences of educational researchers who use digital technologies in their scientific research.
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Background People who use drugs are commonly excluded from clinical research despite being disproportionately impacted by numerous health conditions. Recent work indicates that community-recruited individuals report low support of research inclusion for persons reporting substance use. Objective This study conducted a mixed-method assessment of researchers’ attitudes on including persons reporting substance use in clinical research. Methods Respondents (N = 168; 58% female; 58% psychologists) recruited via scientific society listservs and Twitter completed a survey containing two hypothetical research vignettes. Quantitative items evaluated respondents’ endorsement of research participation by healthy adults, people who use drugs, and vulnerable populations. Qualitative items included open-ended questions asking reasons why people who use drugs should and should not participate in research. Results Respondents reported significantly lower support for research participation by people who use drugs compared to healthy adults (p <.001). Open-ended responses concerning the inclusion of people who use drugs included themes relevant to the Belmont Principles (e.g., capacity to consent) and data quality (e.g., “bad data,” poor compliance). Conclusion Although lower support for research participation by people who use drugs was observed compared to healthy adults, the magnitude of this difference was smaller than reported for prior community-recruited respondents. These findings emphasize salient factors that may serve as both protections for and barriers to inclusion of people who use drugs in research. Initiatives including adoption of person-first language, addressing stereotyping of people who use drugs, and emphasizing the benefits of including these populations in clinical research should be explored to reduce bias while retaining needed protections.
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The rising penetration of smartphones now gives researchers the chance to collect data from smartphone users through passive mobile data collection via apps. Examples of passively collected data include geolocation, physical movements, online behavior and browser history, and app usage. However, to passively collect data from smartphones, participants need to agree to download a research app to their smartphone. This leads to concerns about nonconsent and nonparticipation. In the current study, we assess the circumstances under which smartphone users are willing to participate in passive mobile data collection. We surveyed 1,947 members of a German nonprobability online panel who own a smartphone using vignettes that described hypothetical studies where data are automatically collected by a research app on a participant’s smartphone. The vignettes varied the levels of several dimensions of the hypothetical study, and respondents were asked to rate their willingness to participate in such a study. Willingness to participate in passive mobile data collection is strongly influenced by the incentive promised for study participation but also by other study characteristics (sponsor, duration of data collection period, option to switch off the app) as well as respondent characteristics (privacy and security concerns, smartphone experience).
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This research investigates the effect of topic sensitivity on panelists’ motivations and data quality. An Internet survey in which topic sensitivity varied (high, low) was conducted with panelists using the Survey Participation Inventory (SPI). A two-factor structure based on intrinsic versus extrinsic motivations was used to cluster respondents. A two-way factorial MANOVA between the sensitivity conditions and clusters assessed self-report data quality, completion time, extreme response style, and response dispersion. Panelists’ motivations decreased in the high sensitivity topic condition. However, extrinsic rewards appeared to fortify intrinsic motives without seriously compromising data quality for panelists asked to respond to sensitive questions.
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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the antecedents of inconsistent responding in web surveys. Consistency of responses to personal information questions and scale items were compared, and the influence of perceived social support, social appearance anxiety, academic self-efficacy and social networking habits on inconsistent responding was examined. Design/methodology/approach – A gaming application on Facebook was used to collect data. A repeated-measures design was conducted with 806 respondents in two online survey administrations. After inconsistent responses provided by the same nicknames were identified, consistent and inconsistent respondents were compared with regard to their responding patterns and research variables. Findings – Findings revealed that 45.7 percent of participants misreported their personal information such as age, educational status and gender. Participants were relatively consistent in their responses to attitude scales. Perceived social support led to inconsistent responding whereas social appearance anxiety and academic self-efficacy was not influential in response patterns. A binary logistic regression revealed that perceived family support, number of Facebook friends and Facebook use duration successfully distinguished inconsistent respondents from consistent respondents. Research limitations/implications – The sample frame has several limitations insofar as the study only addressed a unique gaming application on Facebook. Thus, unique interactive characteristics of the current context may have altered the nature of responding. Practical implications – Practitioners should not rely on the personal information provided by online survey respondents to conduct parametric tests, whereas responses to online attitude scales seemed relatively consistent. Originality/value – The principal contribution of the paper is that findings have provided insights into the current status of response patterns in online survey administrations. In addition, the paper highlights the importance of individual variables which influence the consistency of responses.
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This study tests the idea that features of the presentation of a survey to potential respondents can affect nonresponse error, measurement error, and the relation between the two. A few weeks after they had completed one web survey, we asked members of two opt-in web panels to take part in a second web study and systematically varied our description of that survey. The description varied both the purported topic and sponsor of the second survey. The members of the sample were not aware of the connection between the two surveys. We found little evidence that the survey presentation affected response rates to the second survey or the make-up of the sample on the variables we had collected in the initial questionnaire. There were indications, however, that some answers to the questions in the second survey were affected by the framing of the survey request. For example, respondents were less favorable to gun control than they had been in the initial survey when we described the sponsor of the second survey as the "The National Coalition of Gun Owners" rather than "The National Coalition for Victims of Gun Violence" or "The National Center for the Study of Crime." We argue that the description of the survey can affect how respondents interpret the questions and what they see as a useful response. We also found evidence that attitudes toward the survey sponsor and interest in the topic were related to carelessness in completing the questions. Respondents were, for example, less likely to give the same answer to every item in a grid if they had favorable attitudes toward the sponsor than if their attitudes toward the sponsor were unfavorable.
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This article investigates the effect of e-mail subject lines on survey viewing and survey response. Using two samples of students (low involvement with the survey sponsor and high involvement with the survey sponsor), the authors tested a variety of combinations of subject lines: the reason for the e-mail contact (survey), the sponsor of the e-mail (Liberal Arts University), a plea for help (request for assistance), and a blank subject line. The authors found a modest effect of subject line for the low-involvement sample, with blank subject lines yielding the highest response.
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While nonresponse rates in household surveys are increasing in most industrialized nations, the increasing rates do not always produce nonresponse bias in survey estimates. The linkage between nonresponse rates and nonresponse bias arises from the presence of a covariance between response propensity and the survey variables of interest. To understand the covariance term, researchers must think about the common influences on response propensity and the survey variable. Three variables appear to be especially relevant in this regard: interest in the survey topic, reactions to the survey sponsor, and the use of incentives. A set of randomized experiments tests whether those likely to be interested in the stated survey topic participate at higher rates and whether nonresponse bias on estimates involving variables central to the survey topic is affected by this. The experiments also test whether incentives disproportionately increase the participation of those less interested in the topic. The experiments show mixed results in support of these key hypotheses.
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This article reviews recent and emerging technology developments in survey research. Recent developments include computer-assisted self-interviewing (CASI) methods using audio and/or video, automated telephone interviewing systems (interactive voice response), and the World Wide Web. These developments are already having a profound effect on survey data collection. Newer technological challenges include wireless applications (mobile web) and portable digital devices. These technologies offer many opportunities to expand the way we think of survey data collection, increasing the ways we can interact with survey respondents and expanding the range of stimulus material that can be used. The implications of many of these new developments for survey data quality are yet to be fully understood. This article reviews the state of the field with regard to emerging data collection technologies, and their implications for survey research.
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Web surveys offer new opportunities for achieving high-quality responses to open-ended questions because the interactive nature of the web allows questions to be tailored to individual respondents. This article explores how respondents' level of interest in the topic of the question can influence whether they provide a response and the quality of their answers. In addition, we examine whether an interactive follow-up probe, asked after people submit their initial response to the open-ended question, can improve the quality of responses. We find that respondents' interest in the question topic significantly affects the responses to open-ended questions, and interactively probing responses to open-ended questions in web surveys can improve the quality of responses for some respondents, particularly for those very interested in the question topic. Nonresponse remains a significant problem for open-ended questions; we found high item nonresponse rates for the initial question and even higher nonresponse to the probe, especially for those less interested in the topic of the question. Consequently, interactive probing should only be used for a few key open-ended questions within a survey where high-quality responses are essential and may be more effective for respondents who are already motivated to provide a response.
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Examined how mail survey response is affected by 2 independent variables—an offer of survey results to respondents and questionnaire interest. Ss were 420 undergraduate business students. Although the offer of survey results increased the number of requests for results, it had no effect on the response rate, response speed, or the item omission rate, and it increased the cost per usable questionnaire. Of the 2 types of questionnaires, the interesting one produced a greater response rate than the uninteresting one, causing a lower cost per usable questionnaire. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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Certain survey characteristics proven to affect response rates, such as a survey's length and topic, are often under limited control of the researcher. Therefore, survey researchers sometimes seek to compensate for such undesired effects on response rates by employing countermeasures such as material or nonmaterial incentives. The scarce evidence on those factors' effects in web survey contexts is far from being conclusive. This study is aimed at filling this gap by examining the effects of four factors along with selected interactions presumed to affect response rates in web surveys. Requests to complete a web-based, self-administered survey were sent to 2,152 owners of personal websites. The 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 fully crossed factorial design encompassed the experimental conditions of (a) high versus low topic salience, (b) short versus long survey, (c) lottery incentive versus no incentive, and (d) no feedback and general feedback (study results) versus personal feedback (individual profile of results). As expected, highly salient and shorter surveys yielded considerably higher unit-response rates. Moreover, partial support was found for interaction hypotheses derived from the leverage-salience theory of survey participation. Offering personalized feedback compensated for the negative effects of low topic salience on response rates. Also, the lottery incentive tended to evoke more responses only if the survey was short (versus long), but this interaction effect was only marginally significant. The results stress the usefulness of a multifactorial approach encompassing interaction effects to understand participation differences in web surveys.
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Despite increased use of Web surveys, relatively little is known about standards for designing Web questionnaires. Since there is no help from an interviewer for the respondent taking a Web survey, the design of self-administered Web questionnaires is even more important in order to achieve high data quality. Question wording, form and graphic layout of the questionnaire are particularly important. This paper presents some basic experiments to address these issues: one vs. multiple-page design, use of logotypes, and survey topic. The research was performed within the national RIS – Research on Internet in Slovenia - project (http://www.ris.org) in extensive testing since 1996.
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This study experimentally investigated the influence of topic involvement on mail survey response rate and speed. The results show that response rates were higher for topics that are generally considered as high involvement than for topics that are generally considered as low involvement. Moreover, we observed an interesting interaction effect. On the one hand, a positive and significant relationship existed between topic involvement and response rate for topics that on average are viewed as high involvement, leading to a non-response bias. On the other hand, no significant relationship was found between topic involvement and response rate for topics that on average are viewed as low involvement. Finally, we were not able to observe a relationship between topic involvement and response speed for topics that are, on average, either high or low involvement.
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The Anonymous Elect is the book that restores market research to its original condition and bestows it its full interdisciplinary rights. It asks questions that address market researchers and sociologists as well as psychologists, linguists and specialists in marketing and communication: Is there a language of online panel communication? What does this language say about the relationship between the online researcher and the online respondent? To what extent has the online medium increased the self-awareness of today's respondents to research studies? A memorable experiment in writing, Andrei Postoaca's exploration of online access panels is a book about interviewing and being interviewed, addressing and being addressed. By shifting the two voices involved in the online panel communication, the author approaches market research not only by way of facts, figures and plain statistical evidence but also by way of interpretation of the rhetoric of the online surveying act.
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This study examines four theoretical frameworks for explaining survey response behavior and their role in survey research. The results of a survey of 282 research practitioners in Asia-Pacific, North America, and Western Europe show that research practitioners in general are aware and do make use of the theories of cognitive dissonance, commitment and involvement, social exchange, and self-perception. Although the literature indicates that commitment and involvement have been used very little to explain methodological effects, the present study provides evidence to the contrary. A comparison of the results obtained from the three sample groups reveals some significant differences in the research practitioners' perceptions of why people participate in surveys as well as in the survey design strategies they adopt. There also is evidence that survey design practices are associated with, and perhaps influenced by, the research practitioners' beliefs about why people participate in surveys.
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While a low survey response rate may indicate that the risk of nonresponse error is high, we know little about when nonresponse causes such error and when nonresponse is ignorable. Leverage-salience theory of survey participation suggests that when the survey topic is a factor in the decision to participate, noncooperation will cause nonresponse error. We test three hypotheses derived from the theory: (1) those faced with a survey request on a topic of interest to them cooperate at higher rates than do those less interested in the topic; (2) this tendency for the "interested" to cooperate more readily is diminished when monetary incentives are offered; and (3) the impact of interest on cooperation has nonignorability implications for key statistics. The data come from a three-factor experiment examining the impact on cooperation with surveys on (a) five different topics, using (b) samples from five different populations that have known attributes related to the topics, with
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Two hundred fourteen manipulations of the independent variables in 98 mailed questionnaire response rate experiments were treated as respondents to a survey, yielding a mean final response rate of 60.6% with slightly over two contacts. The number of contacts and the judged salience to the respondent were found to explain 51% of the variance in final response. Government organization sponsorship, the type of population, the length of the questionnaire, questions concerning other individuals, the use of a special class of mail or telephone on the third contact, and the use of metered or franked mail on the outer envelope affected final response independent of contacts and salience. A causal model of the final response rate, including initial response, explaining 90% of the variance, and a regression equation predicting final response rates are presented to show that high response rates are achievable by manipulating the costs of responding and the perceived importance of both the research and the individual response.
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This research explores the potential utility of response latency as an index of question problems in survey research. The time respondents took to answer three types of bad questions was compared to the time they took to answer the repaired versions of the questions. Questions containing a superfluous negative and double-barreled questions took longer to answer than nearly identical questions without these problems. Repaired versions of questions soliciting frequency estimates, however, took longer to answer than their problematic counter parts. The results are discussed in the context of a model of question answering, and their implications for survey methodology are explored.
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This study examines four theoretical frameworks for explaining survey response behavior and their role in survey research. The results of a survey of 282 research practitioners in Asia-Pacific, North America, and Western Europe show that research practitioners in general are aware and do make use of the theories of cognitive dissonance, commitment and involvement, social exchange, and self-perception. Although the literature indicates that commitment and involvement have been used very little to explain methodological effects, the present study provides evidence to the contrary. A comparison of the results obtained from the three sample groups reveals some significant differences in the research practitioners’ perceptions of why people participate in surveys as well as in the survey design strategies they adopt. There also is evidence that survey design practices are associated with, and perhaps influenced by, the research practitioners’ beliefs about why people participate in surveys.
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As e-mail and other related technologies have diffused rapidly into a large and heterogeneous population, researchers have begun to explore the possibility of using e-mail as a tool for survey research. However, studies of the technique have primarily compared response rates for studies that use both e-mail and postal mail survey techniques. Research into e-mail as a survey method needs to develop the kind of richness that is found in the literature on traditional postal mail survey methods. This article takes a first step in developing that literature with an in-depth comparison of three studies that used e-mail surveys for data collection. Details are provided on methods for sampling and survey techniques. Hypothesized relationships between issue salience and response rate, and between pre-survey notification and response time, were generally supported.
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Many factors are believed to affect mail survey response behavior and therefore create both nonresponse and response biases. The factor experimentally investigated in this study was the Ss' level of interest in the survey topic. 1,152 adult participants of an amateur bowling tournament were mailed one version of a questionnaire, and 579 were mailed another version. The difference between the 2 versions was the presumed topic of the questionnaires. Results verify the dramatic impact that Ss' interest in the topic can have on response rates: Ss were almost twice as likely to participate if the survey dealt with a higher-interest topic than if the topic were of less interest. The study also investigated other response behavior: Relative to lower-interest Ss, higher-interest Ss were less likely to omit answers to specific questions but did not differ significantly in the internal consistency of their responses or in their speed of response. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Article
Dropouts can be a significant problem in web surveys, but theoretically motivated studies of this problem are rare. In this study, we use a dynamic theory of decision making, the decision field theory, to predict and explain behavior of respondents in a web survey. By registering respondents' momentary subjective experiences throughout the survey, we gained some insights into antecedents and consequences of respondents' decision to drop out. The results show that interest and experienced burden change throughout the survey, depending on characteristics of questions, respondents, and survey design. Respondents who drop out often express lower interest and higher experienced burden than the respondents who stay. Their growing preference for dropout can be detected in the decreased quality of their answers even before the point of dropout. The results could help in practical work and open new paths to theoretical explanations of survey behavior.
Article
The concept of commitment is widely used but has received little formal analysis. It contains an implicit explanation of one mechanism producing consistent human behavior. Commitments come into being when a person, by making a side bet, links extraneous interests with a consistent line of activity. Side bets are often a consequence of the person's participation in social organizations. To understand commitments fully, an analysis of the system of value within which side bets are made is necessary
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Thema des vorliegenden Arbeitsberichts ist die Nutzung von E-mail für Umfragen. Vorraussetzung für die Nutzung dieses Mediums ist, daß die Nachrichten vom Empfänger geöffnet und gelesen werden. Es wird mit Hilfe von Telefoninterviews untersucht, welche Faktoren bei der Entscheidung, eine Nachricht zu lesen oder zu löschen, eine Rolle spielen. Der Autor kommt zu dem Schluß, daß Nachrichten vor allem dann gelöscht werden, wenn der Betreff die Empfänger nicht interessiert oder wenn diese den Namen des Absenders nicht kennen. Die Befragten zeigen eine Vorliebe für E-mail-Umfragen im Rahmen wissenschaftlicher Forschungen und äußern deutliche Abneigung gegen kommerzielle E-mail-Umfragen. (prg) 'For researchers, a key issue in developing electronic mail as a survey method is to understand what factors are at play as a potential respondent chooses to open or delete a mail message. This research investigated the process by which individuals make decisions about opening and reading versus deleting electronic mail and also assessed attitudes towards electronic mail surveys. The sample received an electronic mail message followed by a telephone interview. Results indicated that individuals delete mail when the subject line does not interest them or when they do not recognize the name of the individual sending the email. Those interviewed reacted favorably to electronic mail surveys for scientific research despite issues on anonymity. However, respondents overwhelmingly described a dislike for commercially based electronic mail surveys.' (author's abstract)|
Article
For the first time in decades, conventional wisdom about survey methodology is being challenged on many fronts. The insights gained can not only help psychologists do their research better but also provide useful insights into the basics of social interaction and cognition. This chapter reviews some of the many recent advances in the literature, including the following: New findings challenge a long-standing prejudice against studies with low response rates; innovative techniques for pretesting questionnaires offer opportunities for improving measurement validity; surprising effects of the verbal labels put on rating scale points have been identified, suggesting optimal approaches to scale labeling; respondents interpret questions on the basis of the norms of everyday conversation, so violations of those conventions introduce error; some measurement error thought to have been attributable to social desirability response bias now appears to be due to other factors instead, thus encouraging different approaches to fixing such problems; and a new theory of satisficing in questionnaire responding offers parsimonious explanations for a range of response patterns long recognized by psychologists and survey researchers but previously not well understood.
Getting a foot in the electronic door: understanding why people read or delete electronic mail. ZUMA-Arbeitsbericht: Nr. 97/08
  • T L Tuten
Tuten, T.L. (1997) Getting a foot in the electronic door: understanding why people read or delete electronic mail. ZUMA-Arbeitsbericht: Nr. 97/08. Mannheim: ZUMA.
Festnetzlos, nicht erreichbar und genervt: gehen der Umfrageforschung die Interviewpartner aus? [No landline, unreachable, and irritated: does survey research run out of interview partners?
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  • R Wildner
Wübbenhorst, K.L. & Wildner, R. (2007) Festnetzlos, nicht erreichbar und genervt: gehen der Umfrageforschung die Interviewpartner aus? [No landline, unreachable, and irritated: does survey research run out of interview partners?] Jahrbuch der Absatz-und Verbrauchsforschung, 4/2007, pp. 340-360.
Internet, Mail, and Mixed-mode Surveys. The Tailored Design Method
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  • L M Christian
Dillman, D.A., Smyth, J.D. & Christian, L.M. (2009) Internet, Mail, and Mixed-mode Surveys. The Tailored Design Method (3rd edn). Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.
Watch out for dropouts. Study shows impact of online survey length on research findings. Quirk's Marketing Research Review
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  • M Miller
Hogg, A. & Miller, M. (2003) Watch out for dropouts. Study shows impact of online survey length on research findings. Quirk's Marketing Research Review, July, Article 20030706. Available from http://www.quirks.com/articles/a2003/20030706.aspx (accessed 21 November 2011).
The Challenges of a Changing World
  • J Bethlehem
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Bethlehem, J. & Stoop, I. (2007) Online panels -a paradigm theft?, in Trotman, M., Burrell, T., Gerrard, L., Anderton, K., Basi, G., Couper, M., Morris, K., Birks, D., Johnson, A.J., Baker, R., Rigg, M., Taylor, S. & Westlake, A. (eds) ASC 2007. The Challenges of a Changing World. Proceedings of the 5th International Conference of the Association for Survey Computing. Berkeley: ASC, pp. 113-131.
Generic or project-specific email? The influence of invitations on response behaviour in the course of online-panel surveys. Paper presented at the 11th General Online Research Conference
  • S Schroll
Schroll, S. (2009) Generic or project-specific email? The influence of invitations on response behaviour in the course of online-panel surveys. Paper presented at the 11th General Online Research Conference, April. Vienna, Austria.
Generic or project-specific email? The influence of invitations on response behaviour in the course of online-panel surveys
  • S Schroll
Schroll, S. (2009) Generic or project-specific email? The influence of invitations on response behaviour in the course of online-panel surveys. Paper presented at the 11th General Online Research Conference, April. Vienna, Austria.