Читать книгу Handbook of Web Surveys - Jelke Bethlehem - Страница 30

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, statistics have been used by rulers of countries 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 first ideas about sampling emerged around 1895. There was a lot of discussion between 1895 and 1934 about how samples should be selected: 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 surveys were accepted as a scientific method of data collection.

Somewhere in the 1970s another significant development started. The fast development of microcomputers made it possible to introduce CAI. This made survey data collection faster, cheaper, and easier; it also increased data quality. It was time in which acronyms like CATI and CAPI 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 where e‐mail surveys. In 1989 the World Wide Web was developed. In the middle of the 1990s, web surveys became popular.

Web surveys are attractive because they allow for simple, fast, and cheap access to large groups of potential respondents. There are, however, also potential methodological problems. There are ample examples of web surveys that are not based on probability sampling. It is not always easy to distinguish good from bad surveys. Attention to the methodological aspects is important both to run web surveys and to use web survey data.

The diffusion of mobile devices, especially smartphones, offers a recent attractive tool to reach interviewee for mobile web surveys, i.e., surveys where the contacted unit can receive and respond using either desk and portable computer or mobile devices. There are however methodological problems to be considered when applying mobile web surveys.

Current digital environment and technology trends are providing a huge amount of data about most phenomena. These data are available on the web and are based on the automatic collection on everything that people do; they are usually called big data; they are not subject to statistical classification criteria and to statistical treatment for representativity. However, they look like an attractive source of data to practitioners and researchers. They are wondering if big data could substitute web surveys to provide information for social and economic decision making. They will not substitute surveys; the message is that the two sources are complementary, but they require the researcher to consider the existing methodological problems. The big data offer a challenging opportunity to revise the role and questions faced from the surveys and to integrate web survey data with other data sources.