Handbook of Web Surveys

Silvia Biffignandi, Jelke Bethlehem

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781119371687
• eBook ISBN: 9781119764496
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Mathematics
• Subtopic: Probability & Statistics
• Index: Mathematics

HANDBOOK OF WEB SURVEYS

The updated, must-have guide for creating and implementing web surveys

Revised and thoroughly updated, the second edition of Handbook of Web Surveys offers a practical and comprehensive guide for creating and conducting effective web surveys. The authors noted experts on the topic, include a review the Blaise system (which has been around for 30 years) and provide information on the most recent developments and techniques in the field. The book illustrates the steps needed to develop effective web surveys and explains how the survey process should be carried out. It also examines the aspects of sampling and presents a number of sampling designs.

The book includes ideas for overcoming possible errors in measurement and nonresponse. The authors also compare the various methods of data collection (face-to-face, telephone, mail, and mobile surveys) and discuss their advantages and disadvantages. Critical information for designing questionnaires for mobile devices is also provided. Filled with real-world examples, Handbook of Web Surveys discuss the key concepts, methods, and techniques of effective web surveys. This important book:

• Contains the most recent sampling designs and estimation procedures
• Offers ideas for overcoming errors in web surveys
• Includes information on mixed mode surveys
• Explores the concept of response probabilities
• Reviews all aspects of web panels

Written for researchers in government, business, economics, and social scientists, the second edition of Handbook of Web Surveys provides an introduction to web surveys and the various methods and techniques.

Chapter One
The Road to Web Surveys

1.1 Introduction

Web surveys are a next step in the evolution process of survey data collection. Collecting data for compiling statistical overviews is already very old, almost as old as mankind. All through history, rulers of countries used statistics to take informed decisions. However, new developments in society always have had their impact on the way the data were collected for these statistics.

For a long period, until the year 1895, statistical data collection was based on complete enumeration of populations. The censuses were mostly conducted to establish the size of the population, to determine tax obligations of the people, and to measure the military strength of the country. The idea of sampling had not emerged yet.

The year 1895 marks a fundamental change. Populations had grown bigger and bigger. It was the period of industrialization. Centralized governments required more and more information. The time was ripe for sample surveys. The first ideas emerged around 1895. There was a lot of discussion between 1895 and 1934 about how to select samples: by means of probability sampling or some other sample selection technique.

By 1934, it was clear that only surveys based on probability sampling could provide reliable and accurate estimates. Such methods of data collection were accepted as a scientific. In the period from 1940s to the 1970s, most sample surveys were probability based. Questionnaires were on paper forms. They were completed in face‐to‐face, telephone, or mail.

Somewhere in the 1970s another significant development started. The fast development of microcomputers made it possible to introduce computer‐assisted interviewing (CAI). This made survey data collection faster, cheaper, and easier and increased data quality. It was time in which acronyms like CATI (computer‐assisted telephone interviewing) and CAPI (computer‐assisted personal interviewing) emerged.

The next major development was the creation of the Internet around 1982. When more and more persons and companies got access to the Internet, it became possible to use this network for survey data collection. The first Internet surveys were e‐mail surveys. In 1989 the World Wide Web was developed. This software allowed for friendly graphical user interfaces for Internet users. The first browsers emerged and the use of Internet exploded. In the middle of 1990s, the World Wide Web became widely available, and e‐mail surveys were increasingly replaced by web surveys.

Web surveys are attractive because they have a number of advantages. They allow for simple, fast, and cheap access to large groups of potential respondents. Not surprisingly, the number of conducted web surveys has increased rapidly over time. There are, however, also potential methodological problems. There are ample examples of web surveys not based on probability sampling. Therefore, generalization of survey results to the population is questionable. The interviewed may access the Internet using various types of devices. Thus, web surveys can be completed and received not only on personal computer (PC) or laptop; it is highly probable the survey to be received in the mobile phone. The so‐called mobile web surveys are fully part of web surveys. This implies some methodological problems to be considered, and further research on the impact of mobile is called for.

This chapter describes the historical developments that have led to the emergence of web surveys. As an illustration, Section 1.3 shows how these developments were implemented at Statistics Netherlands and led to new software for survey data collection.

1.2 Theory

1.2.1 THE EVERLASTING DEMAND FOR STATISTICAL INFORMATION

The history of data collection for statistics goes back in time for thousands of years. As far back as Babylonian era, a census of agriculture was carried out. This already took place shortly after the invention of the art of writing. The same thing happened in China. This empire counted its people to determine the revenues and the military strength of its provinces. There are also accounts of statistical overviews compiled by Egyptian rulers long before Christ. Rome regularly took censuses of people and of property. The collected data were used to establish the political status of citizens and to assess their military and tax obligations to the state.

Censuses were rare in the Middle Ages. The most famous one was the census of England taken by the order of William the Conqueror, King of England. The compilation of his Domesday Book started in the year 1086 AD. The book records a wealth of information about each manor and each village in the country. Collected information was about more than 13,000 places. More than 10,000 facts were recorded for each country.

To collect all this data, the country was divided into a number of regions. In each region, a group of commissioners was appointed from among the greater lords. Each county within a region was dealt with separately. Sessions were organized in each county town. The commissioners summoned all those required to appear before them. They had prepared a standard list of questions. For example, there were questions about the owner of the manor; the number of free man and slaves; the area of woodland, pasture, and meadow; the number of mills and fishponds, to the total value; and the prospects of getting more profit. The Domesday Book still exists, and many county data files are available on CD‐ROM and the Internet.

Another interesting example of the history of official statistics is in the Inca Empire that existed between 1000 and 1500 AD. Each Inca tribe had its own statistician, called the quipucamayoc. This man kept records of the number of people, the number of houses, the number of llamas, the number of marriages, and the number of young men that could be recruited for the army. All these facts recorded on quipus, a system of knots in colored ropes. A decimal system was used for this. At regular intervals, couriers brought the quipus to Cusco, the capital of the kingdom, where all regional statistics were compiled into national statistics. The system of quipucamayocs and quipus worked remarkably well. The system vanished with the fall of the empire.

An early census also took place in Canada in 1666. Jean Talon, the intendant of New France, ordered an official census of the colony to measure the increase in population since the founding of Quebec in 1608. Name, age, sex, marital status, and occupation were recorded for every person. It turned out there lived 3,215 people in New France.

The first censuses in Europe took place in the Nordic countries. The first census in Sweden–Finland took place in 1749. Not everyone welcomed the idea of a census. Particularly religious people believed that people should not be counted. They referred to the census ordered by King David in biblical times, which was interrupted by a terrible plague and neve...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Preface
• Chapter One: The Road to Web Surveys
• Chapter Two: About Web Surveys
• Chapter Three: A Framework for Steps and Errors in Web Surveys
• Chapter Four: Sampling for Web Surveys
• Chapter Five: Errors in Web Surveys
• Chapter Six: Web Surveys and Other Modes of Data Collection
• Chapter Seven: Designing a Web Survey Questionnaire
• Chapter Eight: Adaptive and Responsive Design
• Chapter Nine: Mixed‐mode Surveys
• Chapter Ten: The Problem of Under‐coverage
• Chapter Eleven: The Problem of Self‐Selection
• Chapter Twelve: Weighting Adjustment Techniques
• Chapter Thirteen: Use of Response Propensities
• Chapter Fourteen: Web Panels
• Index
• End User License Agreement