Michael Bosnjak

Web Surveys versus other Survey Modes: A Meta-Analysis Comparing Response Rates:

Web surveys are often discussed as a supplement, sometimes also as an alternative to traditional survey modes where response rates are tending to decline (e.g. de Leeuw & de Heer 2002; Roster et al . 2004; Evans & Mathur 2005). However, also in web surveys there is the problem of non-response (Couper 2000; Vehovar et al . 2002). For example, over-surveying internet users may negatively impact on their willingness to participate. The activity of direct marketers with their unsolicited email practices (spam) may also have a negative influence on responses to web surveys. In addition, the methodology of web surveys is probably still not sufficiently developed to take full advantage of the possibilities available, although extensive research efforts are being made in this direction (e.g. Frick et al . 1999; Tuten et al . 1999/2000; Dillman 2000).

Prepaid and promised incentives in web surveys: an experiment

Prepaid monetary incentives consistently exert the largest positive effect on response rates in mail surveys. For web-based surveys, it has not been possible to administer monetary incentives via the Internet in advance. Recently, several new web-based services have been introduced that can transfer money to people online. Does this really have the same positive effect on response rates as shown in traditional mail surveys? The authors investigated this question experimentally in the context of a web-based survey among members of a professional association in Virginia. The results indicate that prepaid incentives in web surveys seem to have no advantages concerning the willingness to participate, actual completion rates, and the share of incomplete response patterns when compared with postpaid incentives. Furthermore, postpaid incentives show no advantages over no incentives. Finally, compared to no incentives, prize draws increase completion rates and also reduce various incomplete participation patterns.

Effects of immediate versus delayed notification of prize draw results on response behavior in web surveys: an experiment

Many online surveys offer the chance to win prizes as a primary incentive for respondents. One researcher found that prepaid monetary incentives were the most effective technique for increasing response rates, however, other researchers showed that a prize incentive outperformed other incentive types in a web-based survey. Using the immediacy effect and supporting theories as a base, this study extends the research on using prize draws as an effective incentive for web surveys by investigating the effects of immediate versus delayed notification for prize draw winners. Results indicate that the immediate notification of prize draw results did significantly increase response rates to the survey over the delayed notification, receipt of results, and control groups.

Prenotification in Web-Based Access Panel Surveys

To compare the effectiveness of different prenotification and invitation procedures in a web-based three-wave access panel survey over 3 consecutive months, we experimentally varied the contact mode in a fully crossed two-factorial design with (a) three different prenotification conditions (mobile short messaging service [SMS], e-mail, no prenotice) and (b) two “invitation and reminder” conditions (SMS, e-mail). A group with nearly complete mobile phone coverage was randomly assigned to one of these six experimental conditions. As expected, SMS prenotifications outperformed e-mail prenotifications in terms of response rates across all three waves. Furthermore, e-mail invitation response rates outperformed those for SMS invitations. The combination of SMS prenotification and e-mail invitation performed best. The different experimental treatments did not have an effect on the sample composition of respondents between groups.

Prepaid and Promised Incentives in Web Surveys

Prepaid monetary incentives consistently exert the largest positive effect on response rates in mail surveys. For web-based surveys, it has not been possible to administer monetary incentives via the Internet in advance. Recently, several new web-based services have been introduced that can transfer money to people online. Does this really have the same positive effect on response rates as shown in traditional mail surveys? The authors investigated this question experimentally in the context of a web-based survey among members of a professional association in Virginia. The results indicate that prepaid incentives in web surveys seem to have no advantages concerning the willingness to participate, actual completion rates, and the share of incomplete response patterns when compared with postpaid incentives. Furthermore, postpaid incentives show no advantages over no incentives. Finally, compared to no incentives, prize draws increase completion rates and also reduce various incomplete participation patterns.

Postvisit Destination Loyalty Judgments Developing and Testing a Comprehensive Congruity Model

Previous research has established the effect of self-congruity on both pre- and postvisit constructs, but its predictive power has appeared minimal. Departing from both classical and contemporary approaches to human needs and values, this study proposes a comprehensive model explaining more variance in postvisit destination loyalty judgments. The model comprises six explanatory variables, in addition to self-congruity: functional, hedonic, leisure, economic, safety, and moral congruity. Based on a large-scale web survey among tourists (N = 973), the results provide good support for the proposed model (64% explained variance). Each of the seven congruity components exerts a significant influence on postvisit loyalty, but their relative contributions differ considerably. Other than self-congruity, functional, hedonic, leisure, and safety congruity exert the greatest influence on postvisit loyalty judgments; in contrast, economic and moral congruity have lesser influences. The authors discuss the results in light of their theoretical and practical implications for destination marketing.

Understanding the Willingness to Participate in Mobile Surveys: Exploring the Role of Utilitarian, Affective, Hedonic, Social, Self-Expressive, and Trust-Related Factors

Mobile technology offers a promising means to collect survey data, though the factors that influence peoples willingness to participate in mobile surveys and their actual participation remain unknown. To identify these factors, this study considers six conceptually distinct influences that may relate to the propensity to participate in mobile surveys. Some of them affect technology acceptance and usage of (mobile) technology in general; another set comes from studies of participation in computer-assisted surveys. The proposed unified framework encompasses utilitarian, affective, hedonic, social, self-expressive, and trust-related factors. An empirical study suggests that this framework explains the intention to participate and actual participation well, though of the six factors, hedonic, affective, self-expressive, and trust-related ones are most influential. Utilitarian aspects and beliefs about perceived social pressure to participate do not play significant roles. The authors discuss the practical implications of these results and outline some further research avenues.

Methods for Probability-Based Online and Mixed-Mode Panels

This special issue is devoted to discussion of probability-based survey panels that collect data either solely or partly through online questionnaires. Panels of this kind have been around for a long time, though they have been few in number, but recent years have seen several new panels start up in Europe. This has led to renewed interest in the methodology of such panels and also to deeper questioning of the role of these panels. On one hand, the probability-based panels are to some extent competing against cheaper non-probability access panels. On the other hand, the probability-based panels are increasingly being seen as possible alternatives to more expensive probability-based survey methods. In both cases, clients and data users want to better understand the relative advantages and disadvantages of the probability-based panels.

A Comparison of Four Probability-Based Online and Mixed-Mode Panels in Europe

Inferential statistics teach us that we need a random probability sample to infer from a sample to the general population. In online survey research, however, volunteer access panels, in which respondents self-select themselves into the sample, dominate the landscape. Such panels are attractive due to their low costs. Nevertheless, recent years have seen increasing numbers of debates about the quality, in particular about errors in the representativeness and measurement, of such panels. In this article, we describe four probability-based online and mixed-mode panels for the general population, namely, the Longitudinal Internet Studies for the Social Sciences (LISS) Panel in the Netherlands, the German Internet Panel (GIP) and the GESIS Panel in Germany, and the Longitudinal Study by Internet for the Social Sciences (ELIPSS) Panel in France. We compare them in terms of sampling strategies, offline recruitment procedures, and panel characteristics. Our aim is to provide an overview to the scientific community of the availability of such data sources to demonstrate the potential strategies for recruiting and maintaining probability-based online panels to practitioners and to direct analysts of the comparative data collected across these panels to methodological differences that may affect comparative estimates.

Sample composition discrepancies in different stages of a probability-based online panel

We report sample composition discrepancies related to demographic and personality variables occurring in different stages of development of a probability-based online panel. The first stage—selecting eligible participants—produces differences between Internet users and nonusers in age, education, and gender distribution as well as in the personality traits of openness to experience, conscientiousness, and extraversion. The second and third stages of panel development—asking about willingness to participate in the panel and actual participation in online surveys—result in fewer and smaller discrepancies. The results suggest that among the three potential sources of sample composition bias considered, the largest impact comes from coverage differences with regard to Internet access.