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The World-wide Challenge of Developing and Using Web-Push Methods for Conducting Household Surveys.

4. Juni 2018, 13:00 Uhr

GESIS, Mannheim, B2,8 (rechts)

Don A. Dillman

Abstract

Web-push surveys that use a mail contact to request an Internet response, while withholding the possibilities of responding by paper, telephone and or/or in-person interview until later in the data collection process, are now being used in many countries as a means of improving response rates and reduce nonresponse error and survey costs. Recent population censuses in Australia, Japan, Canada, and Estonia have used web-push methodologies effectively as have scores of sample surveys in other countries.  This presentation describes experiments implemented during the last decade by the presenter and his colleagues (e.g. Dillman, 2017*) to develop an effective web-push methodology by addressing both response and mixed-mode measurement issues. Subsequent efforts by other researchers to adapt this methodology for use in many types of survey situations will also be discussed. This research suggests that web-push methods offer great promise for improving the quality and cost characteristics of surveys. It also suggests that many challenges exist that must be overcome in order to design the most effective web-push designs, solutions for which will differ across countries. The fundamental challenge is to be neither too far ahead nor behind respondents in their acceptance of the Internet and devices for accessing it. 

About the Speaker

Don Dillman is Regents Professor of Sociology and Deputy Director of the Social and Economic Research Center at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, U.S.A. He has authored more than 200 publications on designing surveys, including “Internet, Phone, Mail and Mixed-Mode Surveys, the Tailored Design Method, 4th edition (Dillman, Smyth and Christian, 2014) that is used throughout the world for guidance in designing sample surveys. Previously he served as the senior survey methodologist at the U.S. Census Bureau, and was 2001-2002 president of the American Association for Public Opinion Research. His current research emphasizes the development of web-push methods for improving response rates and data quality.  

*Dillman, D.A. (2017). The promise and challenge of pushing respondents to the Web in mixed-mode surveys. Survey Methodology, Statistics Canada, Catalogue No. 12001X, Vol. 43, No. 1. www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/12-001-x/2017001/article/14836-eng.pdf