Handbook of Web Surveys. Jelke Bethlehem
1.3 Household surveys carried out by Statistics Netherlands in the early 1990s
| Survey | Mode | Interviews per year |
|---|---|---|
| Survey on Quality of Life | CAPI | 7,500 |
| Health Survey | CAPI | 6,200 |
| Day Recreation Survey | CAPI | 36,000 |
| Crime Victimisation Survey | CAPI | 8,000 |
| Labour Force Survey | CAPI | 150,000 |
| Car Use Panel | CATI | 8,500 |
| Consumer Sentiments Survey | CATI | 24,000 |
| Social‐Economic Panel | CATI | 5,500 |
| School Career Survey | CATI | 4,500 |
| Mobility Survey | CATI/CADI | 20,000 |
| Budget Survey | CADI | 2,000 |
In the middle of the 1990s, the MS‐DOS operating system on microcomputers was replaced by Windows. This marked the start of the use of graphical user interfaces. Early versions of the Internet browser Internet Explorer were included in this operating system.
Blaise 4 was the first production version of Blaise for Windows released in 1998. When more and more people and companies were connected to the Internet, web surveys became a popular mode of data collection among researchers. The main reasons of this popularity were the high response speed, the possibility to provide feedback to respondents about the meaning of questions and possible errors, and the freedom for the respondents to choose their own moment to fill in the questionnaire.
The graphical user interface offered many more possibilities for screen layout. Figure 1.10 gives an example of a screen of the Blaise 4 CAPI program.
Since respondents are familiar with browsers from all their other activities on the Internet, there was no need to explain the graphical user interface.
The possibility to conduct web surveys was included in version 4.6 of Blaise released in 2003. The respondent completes the questionnaire online allowing continuous interaction between the computer of the respondent and the software on the Internet server.
The Internet questionnaire is divided into pages. Each page may contain one or more questions. After the respondent has answered all questions on a page, the answers are submitted to the Internet server. The answers are checked; a new page is returned to the respondent. The contents of this page may depend on the answers to previous questions.
Figures 1.11 and 1.12 show an example of the same page of a web survey when using Blaise 5. In this case, the page contains only one question. The first page will be displayed when using a tablet, and the second page will be displayed when using a smartphone.
Figure 1.10 The screen of a CAPI program in Blaise 4
Figure 1.11 The screen of a Blaise 5 web survey on a tablet
Figure 1.12 The screen of a Blaise 5 web survey on a smartphone
The Blaise 5 system implements a number of source code features (Languages, Modes, Roles, and SpecialAnswers) that specifically address challenges listed above. It also implements a cross‐platform layout designer, templates, and cross‐platform settings that handle presentation and operability issues. Finally, Blaise 5 allows the institute to combine these features in as many ways as suits its survey program and population.
1.4 Summary
Web surveys are a next step in the evolution process of survey data collection. Collecting data for compiling statistical overviews is already very old, almost as old as mankind. All through history, statistics have been used by rulers of countries to take informed decisions. However, new developments in society always have had their impact on the way the data were collected for these statistics.
For a long period, until the year 1895, statistical data collection was based on complete enumeration of populations. The censuses were mostly conducted to establish the size of the population, to determine tax obligations of the people, and to measure the military strength of the country.
The first ideas about sampling emerged around 1895. There was a lot of discussion between 1895 and 1934 about how samples should be selected: by means of probability sampling or some other sample selection technique. By 1934 it was clear that only surveys based on probability sampling could provide reliable and accurate estimates. Such surveys were accepted as a scientific method of data collection.
Somewhere in the 1970s another significant development started. The fast development of microcomputers made it possible to introduce CAI. This made survey data collection faster, cheaper, and easier; it also increased data quality. It was time in which acronyms like CATI and CAPI emerged.
The next major development was the creation of the Internet around 1982. When more and more persons and companies got access to the Internet, it became possible to use this network for survey data collection. The first Internet surveys where e‐mail surveys. In 1989 the World Wide Web was developed. In the middle of the 1990s, web surveys became popular.
Web surveys are attractive because they allow for simple, fast, and cheap access to large groups of potential respondents. There are, however, also potential methodological problems. There are ample examples of web surveys that are not based on probability sampling. It is not always easy to distinguish good from bad surveys. Attention to the methodological aspects is important both to run web surveys and to use web survey data.
The diffusion of mobile devices, especially smartphones, offers a recent attractive tool to reach interviewee for mobile web surveys, i.e., surveys where the contacted unit can receive and respond using either desk and portable computer or mobile devices. There are however methodological problems to be considered when applying mobile web surveys.
Current digital environment and technology trends are providing a huge amount of data about most phenomena. These data are available on the web and are based on the automatic collection on everything that people do; they are usually called big data; they are