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SELF ADMINISTERED QUESTIONNAIRES (CONTINUED):Interesting Questions

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TOOLS FOR DATA COLLECTION:Guidelines for Questionnaire Design >>
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Research Methods ­STA630
VU
Lesson 22
SELF ADMINISTERED QUESTIONNAIRES (CONTINUED)
Increasing Response Rate
Here are some guidelines for increasing the response rate.  Response rate is the number of
questionnaires returned or completed, divided by the total number of eligible people who were
contacted or asked to participate in the survey.
Cover Letter
The cover letter that accompanies the questionnaire or is printed on the first page of the questionnaire is
an important means of inducing a reader to complete and return the questionnaire. In the letter tell why
the study is important, who is sponsoring the study, how was the respondent selected, assuring the
anonymity of the respondent could help in establishing rapport and motivating the respondent to
respond.
A personalized letter addressed to a specific individual shows the respondent that he or she is important.
Including an individually typed letter on letterhead versus printed form is an important element in
increasing the response rate in mail surveys.
Money Helps
The respondent's motivation for returning a questionnaire may be increased by offering monetary
incentives or premiums. Although pens, lottery tickets, and variety of premiums have been used,
monetary incentives appear to be the most effective and least biasing incentive. It attracts the attention
and creates a sense of obligation. Money incentive works for all income categories.
Interesting Questions
The topic of the research and thus the point of the questions cannot be manipulated without changing
thee problem definition. However, certain interesting questions can be added to the questionnaire,
perhaps in the beginning, to stimulate the respondents' interest and to induce cooperation.
Follow-Ups
Follow-up implies the communication of the message to respondents through different means for the
return of questionnaire. After responses from the first wave of mailing begin to trickle-in, most studies
use follow-up, reminder for getting the response. A follow-up may include a duplicate questionnaire or
may merely be a reminder to return thee original questionnaire. Multiple contacts almost always
increase response rates. The more attempts made to reach people, the greater the chances of their
responding.
Preliminary Notification
Advance notification, by either letter or telephone, that a questionnaire will be arriving has bee
successful in increasing the response rates in some situations. Advance notices that go out close to the
questionnaire mailing time produce better results than those sent too far in advance. This technique
presupposes a certain level of development of the country where such facilities are available. Even
otherwise, it depends upon the nature of the study as well as the type of respondents selected for the
study.
Survey Sponsorship
Sponsorship of the study makes a difference for motivating the respondents to return thee
questionnaires. It depends upon the goodwill of the sponsoring agency that can activate/deactivate the
respondent to fill the questionnaire and return it. There is some evidence that "official" and "respected"
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Research Methods ­STA630
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sponsorship increases the response rate. Sponsorship by well-known and prestigious organizations,
such as universities or government agencies, may significantly influence response rates.
Return Envelopes
The inclusion of a stamped, self addressed envelop encourages response because it simplifies
questionnaire return.
Postage
The existing evidence shows that expedited delivery is very effective in increasing response rate. First
class or third class mail, stamped mail or metered mail may make a difference.
Personalization
Personalization of the mailing has no clear-cut advantage in terms of improved response rates. Neither
personal inside addresses nor individually signed cover letters significantly increased response rates;
personally typed cover letters proved to be somewhat effective.
Size, Reproduction, and Color
The size of the paper, the printing, and color may have some effect, though not significant, on the
response rate. It is recommended to use the A-4 size paper and while sending it do not fold it. The
attractive printing may be another factor influencing the return rate. If questionnaire has different parts,
the use of different colors of paper may motivate the respondents to take interest in the study and return
the questionnaire.
The manipulation of one or two techniques independently of all others may do little to stimulate
response. May be the researcher has to make use of all the possible techniques simultaneously, so that
the response rate could be increased. Such an effort is referred to as Total Design Effort (TDE).
E-Mail Surveys
Questionnaires can be distributed via e-mail. E-mail is relatively new method of communication, and
many individuals cannot be reached this way. However, certain projects lend themselves to, such as
internal surveys of employees or satisfaction surveys of retail buyers who regularly deal with an
organization via e-mail.
The benefits of an e-mail include speed of distribution, lower distribution and processing cost, faster
turnaround time, more flexibility, and less handling of paper questionnaires.
Many respondents may feel that they can be more candid in e-mail than in person or on telephone, for
the same reason they are candid on other self administered questionnaires.
In many organizations the employees know that their e-mails are not secure, that "eves-dropping" by a
supervisor could occur. Further maintaining the respondent's anonymity is difficult, because a reply to
an e-mail message typically includes the sender's address. Researchers designing e-mail surveys should
assure respondents that their responses will be confidential.
Not all e-mail systems have the same capacity: some handle color and graphics well; others are limited
to text. The extensive differences in the capabilities of respondents' computers and email software limit
the types of questions and the layout of thee questionnaire.
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Research Methods ­STA630
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Internet Surveys
An internet survey is a self-administered questionnaire posted on a Web site. Respondents provide
answers to questions displayed on screen by highlighting a phrase, clicking an icon, or keying in an
answer. Like any other survey, Internet surveys have both advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages of Internet Surveys
Speed and Cost Effectiveness: Internet survey allow the marketers to reach a large audience (possible
a global one), to personalize the individual messages, and to secure confidential answers quickly and
cost effectively. The computer to computer self administered questionnaires eliminate the cost of paper,
postage, data entry, and other administrative costs. Once an Internet questionnaire has been developed,
the incremental cost of reaching additional respondents is marginal. Hence samples can be larger than
with interviews or other types of self-administered questionnaires.
Visual Appeal and Interactivity: Surveys conducted on Internet can be interactive. The researcher
can use more sophisticated lines of questioning based on the respondents' prior answers. Many of this
interactive survey utilize color, sound, and animation, which may help to increase the respondents'
cooperation and willingness to spend more time answering questions. The Internet is an excellent
medium fort he presentation of visual materials, such as photographs or drawings of product prototypes,
advertisements, and movie trailers.
Respondent Participation and Cooperation: Participation in some Internet surveys occurs because
computer users intentionally navigate to a particular Web site where questions are displayed. In some
instances individuals expect to encounter a survey at a Web site; in other cases it is totally unexpected.
Accurate Real-Time Data Capture: The computer to computer nature of Internet surveys means that
each respondent's answers are entered directly into the researcher's computer as soon as the
questionnaire is submitted. In addition, the questionnaire software may be programmed to reject
improper data entry.
Real-time data capture allows for real-time data analysis. A researcher can review up-to-the ­minute
sample size counts and tabulation data from an Internet survey in real time.
Callbacks: When the sample for Internet survey is drawn from a consumer panel, it is easy to recontact
those who have not yet completed the questionnaire. Computer software can also identify the passwords
of those respondents who completed only a portion of the questionnaire and send those people
customized messages.
Personalized and Flexible Questioning:  There is no interviewer in Internet surveys but thee
respondent interacts directly with thee software on a Web site. In other words the computer program
asks questions in sequence determined by a respondent's previous answer. The questions appear on the
computer screen, and answers are recorded by simply pressing a key clicking an icon, thus immediately
entering the data into thee computer's memory. This ability to sequence the question based on previous
responses is a major advantage of computer-assisted surveys.
Respondent Anonymity: Respondents are more likely to provide sensitive information when they can
remain anonymous. The anonymity of thee Internet encourages respondents to provide honest answers
to sensitive questions.
Most respondents do not feel threatening to enter information into the compute because of thee absence
of the interviewer. They may be assured that no human will ever see their individual responses.
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Research Methods ­STA630
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Response Rate: Response rate can be increased by sending e-mail friendly reminders.
Disadvantages of Internet Surveys
All People cannot Participate: Many people in thee general public cannot access to Internet. And, all
people with Internet access do not have the same level of technology. Many lack powerful computers or
software that is compatible with advanced features programmed into many Internet questionnaires.
Some individuals have minimum computer skills. They may not know how to navigate through and
provide answers to an Internet questionnaire.
No Physical Incentive: Unlike mail surveys, Internet surveys do not offer the opportunity to send a
physical incentive to the respondent.
SELECTING THE APPROPRIATE SURVEY RESEARCH DESIGN
The choice of communication method is not as complicated as it might appear. By comparing the
research objectives with the strengths and weaknesses of each method, the researcher will be able to
choose one that is suited to thee needs. Nevertheless, there no "best" form of survey. Each has
advantages and disadvantages. A researcher who must ask highly confidential questions ay conduct a
mail survey, thus trading off the speed of data collection to avoid any possibility of interviewer bias.
To determine the appropriate technique, thee researcher must ask questions such as "Is the assistance of
an interviewer necessary? Are respondents likely to be interested in the issues being investigating?
Will cooperation be easily attained? How quickly the information is needed? Will the study require a
ling complex questionnaire? How large is the budget?" The criteria ­ cost, speed, anonymity, and the
like ­ may be different for each project.
If none of the choices turns out to be a particularly good fit, it is possible to combine the best
characteristics of two or more alternatives into a mixed mode. Although this decision will incur the costs
of the combined modes, thee flexibility of tailoring a method to the unique need of the project is often
an acceptable trade off.
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Table of Contents:
  1. INTRODUCTION, DEFINITION & VALUE OF RESEARCH
  2. SCIENTIFIC METHOD OF RESEARCH & ITS SPECIAL FEATURES
  3. CLASSIFICATION OF RESEARCH:Goals of Exploratory Research
  4. THEORY AND RESEARCH:Concepts, Propositions, Role of Theory
  5. CONCEPTS:Concepts are an Abstraction of Reality, Sources of Concepts
  6. VARIABLES AND TYPES OF VARIABLES:Moderating Variables
  7. HYPOTHESIS TESTING & CHARACTERISTICS:Correlational hypotheses
  8. REVIEW OF LITERATURE:Where to find the Research Literature
  9. CONDUCTING A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW:Write the Review
  10. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK:Make an inventory of variables
  11. PROBLEM DEFINITION AND RESEARCH PROPOSAL:Problem Definition
  12. THE RESEARCH PROCESS:Broad Problem Area, Theoretical Framework
  13. ETHICAL ISSUES IN RESEARCH:Ethical Treatment of Participants
  14. ETHICAL ISSUES IN RESEARCH (Cont):Debriefing, Rights to Privacy
  15. MEASUREMENT OF CONCEPTS:Conceptualization
  16. MEASUREMENT OF CONCEPTS (CONTINUED):Operationalization
  17. MEASUREMENT OF CONCEPTS (CONTINUED):Scales and Indexes
  18. CRITERIA FOR GOOD MEASUREMENT:Convergent Validity
  19. RESEARCH DESIGN:Purpose of the Study, Steps in Conducting a Survey
  20. SURVEY RESEARCH:CHOOSING A COMMUNICATION MEDIA
  21. INTERCEPT INTERVIEWS IN MALLS AND OTHER HIGH-TRAFFIC AREAS
  22. SELF ADMINISTERED QUESTIONNAIRES (CONTINUED):Interesting Questions
  23. TOOLS FOR DATA COLLECTION:Guidelines for Questionnaire Design
  24. PILOT TESTING OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE:Discovering errors in the instrument
  25. INTERVIEWING:The Role of the Interviewer, Terminating the Interview
  26. SAMPLE AND SAMPLING TERMINOLOGY:Saves Cost, Labor, and Time
  27. PROBABILITY AND NON-PROBABILITY SAMPLING:Convenience Sampling
  28. TYPES OF PROBABILITY SAMPLING:Systematic Random Sample
  29. DATA ANALYSIS:Information, Editing, Editing for Consistency
  30. DATA TRANSFROMATION:Indexes and Scales, Scoring and Score Index
  31. DATA PRESENTATION:Bivariate Tables, Constructing Percentage Tables
  32. THE PARTS OF THE TABLE:Reading a percentage Table
  33. EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH:The Language of Experiments
  34. EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH (Cont.):True Experimental Designs
  35. EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH (Cont.):Validity in Experiments
  36. NON-REACTIVE RESEARCH:Recording and Documentation
  37. USE OF SECONDARY DATA:Advantages, Disadvantages, Secondary Survey Data
  38. OBSERVATION STUDIES/FIELD RESEARCH:Logic of Field Research
  39. OBSERVATION STUDIES (Contd.):Ethical Dilemmas of Field research
  40. HISTORICAL COMPARATIVE RESEARCH:Similarities to Field Research
  41. HISTORICAL-COMPARATIVE RESEARCH (Contd.):Locating Evidence
  42. FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION:The Purpose of FGD, Formal Focus Groups
  43. FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION (Contd.):Uses of Focus Group Discussions
  44. REPORT WRITING:Conclusions and recommendations, Appended Parts
  45. REFERENCING:Book by a single author, Edited book, Doctoral Dissertation