Читать книгу Handbook of Web Surveys - Jelke Bethlehem - Страница 42

Web surveys may be used in any field of application provided that the elements in the population have Internet access and that they have some basic computer skills. In some cases, as described in detail in Chapter 12, a probability‐based sample from the general population is selected. Then some people without a computer may receive one (with Internet access), together with basic instructions for use. This solution has typically been adopted for general population web panels.

If the web data collection is possible for all potential respondents, a web survey can be a very useful data collection tool, combining low costs and high quality.

Unfortunately, often not all elements in the target population have Internet access, or computers with adequate processing power to process questionnaires, or sufficient computer literacy. This problem holds true for general population surveys as well as for many other possible target populations. Even if Internet penetration is growing, differences may exist between countries and between groups within populations. Large differences in computer equipment, screen settings, and technical literacy may have a substantial impact. Thus, to carry out a good web survey, a statistical sound approach is needed, which attempts to minimize a possible bias as much as possible. And if a bias cannot be avoided, there should be statistical techniques applied to correct for this bias afterward.

In practice, despite the methodological challenges, many surveys (especially commercial surveys) are conducted on the web without properly taking into consideration the impact on the reliability of the results arising from the lack of Internet coverage and/or lack of computer literacy. Such surveys are administered exclusively via the web and therefore reach only one part of the target population. If the survey is not blocked, the web survey is a mobile web survey and will reach the participants also through the mobile device. Nevertheless, only who is using Internet is contacted. When using web survey results, one should be aware of potential problems. Therefore, it is important to assess the quality of the web survey by analyzing the methodological description in the documentation.