Effects of Design in Web Surveys: Comparing Trained and Fresh Respondents

Posted: 18 Aug 2009

See all articles by Vera Toepoel

Vera Toepoel

Tilburg University CentER

Marcel Das

Tilburg University CentER

Arthur van Soest

Tilburg University; Netspar; RAND Corporation; Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

Date Written: 2008

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate whether there are differences in the effect of instrument design between trained and fresh respondents. In three experiments, we varied the number of items on a screen, the choice of response categories, and the layout of a five-point rating scale. In general, effects of design carry over between trained and fresh respondents. We found little evidence that survey experience influences the question-answering process. Trained respondents seem to be more sensitive to satisficing. The shorter completion time, higher interitem correlations for multiple-item-per-screen formats, and the fact that they select the first response options more often indicate that trained respondents tend to take shortcuts in the response process and study the questions less carefully.

Suggested Citation

Toepoel, Vera and Das, Marcel and van Soest, Arthur H. O. and van Soest, Arthur H. O., Effects of Design in Web Surveys: Comparing Trained and Fresh Respondents (2008). Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 72, Issue 5, pp. 985-1007, 2008, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1455068 or http://dx.doi.org/nfn060

Vera Toepoel (Contact Author)

Tilburg University CentER ( email )

P.O. Box 90153
Tilburg, 5000 LE
Netherlands

Marcel Das

Tilburg University CentER ( email )

P.O. Box 90153
Tilburg, 5000 LE
Netherlands

Arthur H. O. van Soest

Netspar

P.O. Box 90153
Tilburg, 5000 LE
Netherlands

Tilburg University ( email )

P.O. Box 90153
Tilburg, DC Noord-Brabant 5000 LE
Netherlands

RAND Corporation ( email )

P.O. Box 2138
1776 Main Street
Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138
United States

Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Abstract Views
322
PlumX Metrics