Dear Colleagues,
In response to private email, I'd like to clarify what I meant to include with
the term 'on-line survey' and 'internet format.'
By internet format I am thinking of a web site where someone can respond by
pointing and clicking, and the data are stored in a file for import into a data
analysis program. email is not an essential part of this - we could notify
potential respondents of the web site by other methods of communication.
'on-line survey' means that the survey is completed on-line.
It might be better to call this web-page data collection, and separately specify
procedures to determine respondents, methods from highly controlled to
y'all come. We could use some new vocabulary here to make important
distinctions.
I was a bit taken aback by some very strong negative responses to my original
question. It seems that some folks feel they are surrounded by idiots, and
interpret
ambiguities accordingly. Oh, well. It does make the edstat list more exciting.
Dale
Dale Berger wrote:
> Adding to Art's list:
>
> If one has email addresses for a population of interest and wishes to
> collect information that is not particularly sensitive, an internet format
> might work as well or better than a mail survey. There would still be
> problems of inference if the response rate was low, and perhaps the filters
> are different than a mail survey. (There is an empirical question waiting
> to be explored.)
>
> (somewhat shakier ground...) If one wishes to learn more about a rare
> population (left-handed Lithuanians living in Chicago?), the internet could
> be used to find multiple cases (or at least respondents who say they meet
> the criteria). Granted, one would not be able to generalize to a
> population. However, with careful screening, the responses could be treated
> as case studies. If we had direct access to only a very few cases, these
> supplementary cases might give us useful ideas for further research.
>
> It may be possible to open up direct contact with interesting cases
> (identical twins raised apart from birth?).
>
> Dale Berger
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Art Kendall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Sent: Monday, July 17, 2000 12:29 PM
> Subject: Re: On-line survey
>
> > There are a _few_ circumstances in which valid information can be
> gathered
> > using a survey form on the internet. I can think of three. Perhaps others
> can
> > identify more such circumstances.
> >
> > One circumstance is to have volunteers on the internet respond to a
> survey form
> > as one part of the pretesting of a survey instrument. For example, you can
> see
> > if there are a lot of "other" responses with a particular write-in answer.
> This
> > would allow you change the response categories for that question. You
> might also
> > find different ways the respondents managed to misunderstand questions.
> >
> > The second circumstance is when the population of interest is on a defined
> part
> > of the internet (perhaps an intranet), for example, employees of a company
> or
> > agency.
> >
> > The third circumstance is to gather some data to practice data cleaning
> and
> > preparation skills.
> >
> > Dale Berger wrote:
> >
> > > Dear Colleagues,
> > >
> > > I have a student who would like to collect data using a survey form on
> the
> > > internet. He would like to have data collected in a format that can be
> > > imported easily into SPSS. Other desired features: confidentiality,
> though
> > > not anonymity - that is, he would like to assure users that other users
> will
> > > not have access to individual responses. He also would like to assure
> that
> > > no one responds more than one time, and ideally be able to track who has
> > > responded.
> > >
> > > I know there are commercial firms that will do this work, but I would
> prefer
> > > to have the information collected on our computer, and to be close to
> the
> > > data collection process. What do we need to know to do this ourselves?
> Has
> > > anyone had experience with software to make this easier?
> > >
> > > Thanks for any advice. Dale
> > >
> > > Dale Berger
> > > Professor and Dean, Psychology
> > > Claremont Graduate University
> > > 123 East Eighth Street
> > > Claremont, CA 91711
> > >
> > > FAX: 909-621-8905
> > > Phone: 909-621-8084
> > > http://www.cgu.edu/faculty/bergerd.html
> > >
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