Conducting Research Surveys Via E-Mail and The Web - Softcover

Schonlau, Matthias

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0833031104 ISBN 13: 9780833031105

Publisher: RAND Corporation, 2002

Synopsis

Internet-based surveys, although still in their infancy, are becoming increasingly popular because they are believed to be faster, better, cheaper, and easier to conduct than surveys using more traditional telephone or mail methods. Based on evidence in the literature and real-life casestudies, this book examines the validity of those claims. The authors discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using e-mail and the Web toconduct research surveys, and also offer practical suggestions for designing and implementing Internet surveys most effectively. Among other findings, the authors determined that Internet surveys may bepreferable to mail or telephone surveys when a list of e-mail addresses forthe target population is available, thus eliminating the need for mail orphone invitations to potential respondents. Internet surveys also are well-suited for larger survey efforts and for some target populations thatare difficult to reach by traditional survey methods. Web surveys areconducted more quickly than mail or phone surveys when respondents arecontacted initially by e-mail, as is often the case when a representativepanel of respondents has been assembled in advance. And, although surveys incur virtually no coding or data-entry costs because the data are captured electronically, the labor costs for design and programming can be high.

About this title

About the Author

Ronald D. Fricker, Jr is an Associate Professor of Operations Research and the Associate Chair for Research at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS). Prior to joining NPS, Dr Fricker was a Senior Statistician at the RAND Corporation and the Associate Director of the National Security Research Division. Published widely in leading professional journals, he is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association, an Elected Member of the International Statistical Institute, and a former chair of the ASA Section on Statistics in Defense and National Security. He is a contributing editor to Interfaces and is on the editorial boards of Statistics, Politics, and Policy and the International Journal of Quality Engineering and Technology. Fricker's current research is focused on studying the performance of various statistical methods for use in biosurveillance, particularly syndromic surveillance, and statistical process control methodologies more generally.

Edition details

• Publisher: RAND Corporation
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0833031104
• ISBN 13: 9780833031105
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 142