Testing a web-based survey is one of the most detested activities to many in the survey research business. From a 2016 post, here are seven tips to better web-based survey testing practices for your next study. You’re welcome 🙂
We know your survey is exciting and will divulge important findings; you know your survey is exciting and will divulge important findings. But darn those who don’t know this and so don’t participate. Or worse – those who do know this, but choose not to participate for some other reason. Their nonresponse can create uncertainty in how accurate our survey results actually are. If only we could survey robots or well-trained dogs who followed our instructions instead of people!
A couple months ago, I listened to a podcast episode called “Sports Superstitions” on a wonderful podcast called Fearless Conversations with Abby Wambach (which, by the way, is a wonderful podcast on a variety of social issues from the perspective of a professional athlete). It brought back memories of long ago (high school) days when I used to pole vault. For a long time I blamed my youth for the rituals that I would perform before and during competition. How I removed the pole from its cardboard tube, the number of times I rocked back and forth before I started down the runway (three), and even the side of the pit that I used to jump off after I completed a vault (always the left)…
Testing a web-based survey is one of the most detested activities to many in the survey research business. It requires patience, persistence, and tremendous focus. Finding someone who enjoys testing and is good at it is a valuable asset to any survey research team.
A wonderful resource for many details about testing questionnaires (including a chapter on web-based surveys) is Methods for Testing and Evaluating Survey Questionnaires.
Here are seven tips to better web-based survey testing practices for your next study…
When you find yourself surveying a population where significant information is known about those who are in the study prior to them completing the survey (such as in a longitudinal survey, a panel, or when the respondents are part of a known group such as a membership organization), such data can be used as part of the survey instrument design.
While it is tempting to do whenever possible, when using such data, care should be given to how and when it is used…
In the recent conference proceedings of the 2016 Computer Human Interaction (CHI) Conference in Human Factors in Computing Systems, Geoff Kaufman and Mary Flanagan present an eye opening piece of research on the different reaction our brain has to content presented on digital vs. non-digital platforms.
Their work raises excellent questions…
Neuroscientists have demonstrated that if you ask yourself, “What am I grateful for?”, it will raise dopamine and serotonin in the brain, both of which help boost your mood when you feel down. You don’t even have to find something that you are grateful for…
It seems inevitable – when many of us are wearing devices like smart watches and step counters that can also monitor our heart rate and even track movement while we sleep, when will that technology cross over into survey research? It seems…
Peer review is wonderful in theory. Scientists reviewing other scientists’ work to evaluate whether the science was applied thoroughly, implemented well, and interpreted effectively can be a wonderful way to allow the best science through. But the Reproducibility Project clearly demonstrated that something is broken – when over a quarter of the published studies reviewed could not be replicated.
It is not a surprise to most. Humans are involved. We make mistakes…