Handbook of Web Surveys. Jelke Bethlehem
rel="nofollow" href="#ulink_85fbfa54-b11d-590a-84be-31c827d0c60d">Table 2.1.
The first step in the survey process is the design of the questionnaire. In fact, there are two questionnaires: one for blue‐collar employees and one for white‐collar employees. Italcementi Group as a whole, the company to which the employee belongs, and the specific location of the company cover the three main sections of the questionnaire. In addition, a section with questions about personal characteristics is included. The paper questionnaire for white‐collar employees is 8 pages long, while that for blue‐collar employees is 6 pages.
Table 2.1 Response rates of the Italcementi survey by country
| Country | Overall response rate (%) | White‐collar response rate (%) | Blue‐collar response rate (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Albania | 91.9 | — | — |
| Bulgaria | 51.9 | 59.8 | 46.9 |
| Dubai | 100.0 | — | — |
| Egypt | 48.9 | 66.1 | 50.4 |
| France/Belgium | 44.7 (F) 51.7 (B) | 65.6 | 38.1 |
| Gambia | 90.7 | — | — |
| Greece | 52.3 | 79.7 | 31.2 |
| India | 94.1 | 94.3 | 94.0 |
| Italia | 48.6 | 65.2 | 30.5 |
| Kazakhstan | 66.7 | 61.8 | 68.2 |
| Morocco | 64.4 | 67.4 | 62.9 |
| Mauritania | 98.7 | — | — |
| North America | 43.3 | 76.3 | 21.9 |
| Singapore | 75.0 | — | — |
| Spain | 53.7 | 66.2 | 45.1 |
| Sri Lanka | 65.5 | — | — |
| Thailand | 78.2 | 84.1 | 72.7 |
| Turkey | 78.6 | 79.6 | 77.9 |
| Total | 54.7 | — | — |
The management committee of the enterprise group discusses at first the new survey. Next, by means of cognitive interviews, the questionnaire is tested. After approval of the questionnaire, fieldwork can start. A letter on the intranet announces the survey. The Enterprise Group CEO signs it. The letter distribution is also as part of pay packets. Moreover, the survey is announced on the company notice boards.
It is a mixed‐mode survey including both a web mode and a paper mode. To complete the questionnaire on the web, invitation is to everyone with an e‐mail address. Those without Internet can complete the paper questionnaire.
The enterprise has companies in many different countries. Thus, employees speak different languages. By translating the two questionnaires into the languages spoken in the countries in which the companies are located, language problems are overpassed. For individuals with literacy problems, data collection is via the collaboration of a private voluntary organization.
For the 2007 survey (the starting year of the survey), 22,276 employees were eligible for the survey. In countries with a large number of employees (France, Belgium, Italy, Egypt, Thailand, Morocco), two‐thirds of the white‐collar employees were invited to complete the questionnaire on the web, and one‐third were asked to complete the paper questionnaire. In all remaining countries, all white‐collar employees received a paper questionnaire. For all blue‐collar workers, invitation and completion was paper mode. An exception was France, where blue‐collar workers were receiving an Internet questionnaire.
Online data collection took place in the period from June to September. Data collection in the field ended in October. The results diffusion was in December. The total number of respondents was equal to 12,183. This comes down to a response rate of 54.7%. The response rate of the white‐collar workers (71.5%) was much higher than the response rate of the blue‐collar workers (45%). The response rate of the web respondents was higher than the response rate of the paper questionnaire respondents. Table 2.1 shows the response rates by country.
In 2007, the first survey was conducted. This survey is run in the subsequent years in a similar way. The survey turned out to be very informative with respect to the attitudes of employees about their jobs and the company they belong to.
Some examples of (translated) questions in the Italcementi survey are shown below. Figure 2.1 contains two questions that use a so‐called Likert scale. They both use a 4‐point scale. When responding to a Likert scale question, respondents specify their level of agreement to a statement. The scale name is after its inventor, the psychologist Rensis Likert.
Figure 2.2 shows a so‐called matrix question. Such a question combines a number of single question all with the same type of answer.
Figure 2.1 Questions with Likert scales
Figure 2.2 A matrix question
2.4