internet market surveys

This page deals with web and email-based marketing surveys.

It covers -

• introduction
• methodologies
• ethics
• statistics
• survey survey tools

Audience measurement and opinion polling (size, demographics, behaviour) is explored in more detailed in a supplementary profile elsewhere on this site.

     introduction

[under development]

     methodologies

The literature about online survey methodologies is surprisingly slim. As starting points we recommend Don Dillman's Mail & Internet Surveys: The Tailored Design Method (New York: Wiley 2000), The Handbook of Online Marketing Research (New York: McGraw-Hill 00) by Joshua Grossnickle & Oliver Raskin and Dimensions of Internet Science (Lengerich: Pabst Science 2001) edited by Ulf-Dietrich Reips & Michael Bosnjak.

Dillman is arguably the Jakob Nielsen of web surveys and has published several papers of particular value. These include

the 41 page 2001 paper (PDF) on Response Rate and Measurement Differences in Mixed Mode Surveys Using Mail, Telephone, Interactive Voice Response and the Internet, co-authored with Glenn Phelps, Robert Tortora, Karen Swift, Julie Kohrell & Jodi Berck

the 2001 The Web Questionnaire Challenge to Survey Methodologists paper (PDF) with Dennis Bowker

the 1998 Principles for Constructing Web Surveys paper (PDF) with Bowker & Robert Tortora

the 1998 Influence of Plain vs. Fancy Design on Response Rates for Web Surveys paper (PDF) with Bowker, Tortora & John Conradt

the 1998 paper (PDF) with David Schaefer on Development of a Standard E-mail Methodology: Results of an Experiment

Dennis Bowker & Don Dillman's 2000 paper (PDF) on An Experimental Evaluation of Left and Right Oriented Screens for Web Questionnaires

There is a quick introduction to some issues in Casting the Net: Surveying an Internet Population, a 1997 paper by Christine Smith. For a marketing industry perspective see Survey Research and the World Wide Web (Boston: Allyn & Bacon 1999) by Dale Nesbary and Marketing Research: The Impact of the Internet (Mason: South-Western 2001) by Carl McDaniel & Roger Gates.

     ethics

Ethics could be taken for granted were it not for the dubious status of some internet data collection, manipulation and presentation practices.

The Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) has published draft Ethics Guidelines for online research, discussed in a paper by Nickolas Jankowski & Martine van Selm on Research Ethics in a Virtual World: Some Guidelines and Illustrations. For broader guidelines see, for example, the Ethical Guidelines for Statistical Practice (EGSP) of the American Statistical Association. Academic perspectives are provided in the International Journal of Internet Research Ethics (IJIRE).

In Australia the Association of Market Research Organisations (AMRO), sometimes criticised as one of the more comfy clubs, and the Market Research Society of Australia (MRSA) have issued statements about principle and practice.

     statistics

Basic statistical primers abound. We have pointed to some resources in a later page of our Metrics & Statistics guide. If you're conducting, commissioning or analysing a survey useful - and entertaining - criticisms are found in Darrell Huff's How To Lie With Statistics (New York: Norton 1993) and Joel Best's Damned Lies & Statistics (Berkeley: Uni of California Press 2001)

     survey tools

A dauntingly large number of online survey software packages and services is available. Some organisations, such as our own, independently commission software developers to customise products for a particular project.

An indication of free, 'free' and commercial survey software providers is aavailable on the WebSM site

dedicated to the methodological issues of Web surveys ... and the broader area of interaction between modern technologies and survey data collection

Free and discount software includes -

• SurveyMonkey - the free variant handles 10 questions and 100 responses
• Surveygizmo
• Zoomerang - free up to 30 questions and 100 responses, although results are only held for a short period
• QuestionPro - attractive to students through the offer of a single survey free of charge with unlimited questions (up to 5000 responses) subject to public citation and a link to its site
• Survey professionals - offer a free trial period
• Castle - a suite of quiz software for tertiary academics in the UK
• Surveyz
• GetFAST - aimed at teachers seeking assessments from students
• Birat
• GMU Center for History and New Media survey

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