Question

What is the advantage of using Internet surveys to supplement traditional postal questionnaires?

• A. Postal questionnaires generally produce a higher response rate.
• B. It makes all of the data more directly comparable.
• C. Online social surveys generally produce a higher response rate.
• D. It boosts response rates by allowing people to respond in the way that is most convenient for them.

Answer 1

The correct option is D It boosts response rates by allowing people to respond in the way that is most convenient for them.

There is a growing tendency for researchers to administer questionnaires through more than one medium. Thus they might send out a printed copy of the questionnaire by post to everyone in the sample, but explain in the covering letter that the survey can also be found online, for example at a web site. This allows recipients of the letter to choose whether to respond by post or online, and so it has the potential to improve the study's response rate. Meanwhile, there is growing evidence that using online questionnaires alone produces a lower response rate than postal surveys. It seems that Internet users have become quite sophisticated in their attitudes to unsolicited emails. Spam filters and security software may inadvertently trash some messages, particularly those with attachments.