Designing Effective Web Surveys

Designing Effective Web Surveys is a practical guide to designing web surveys, based on empirical evidence and grounded in scientific research and theory. It is designed to guide survey practitioners in the art and science of developing and deploying successful web surveys. The author guides the researcher through the steps involved, from the basic building blocks and suggests ways to increase visual impact and interactivity. Throughout, he considers the importance of layout and design, and attention is also given to the way questions are put together. The book is intended for academic, government, and market researchers who design and conduct web surveys.

Table of Contents 1. The importance of design for web surveys; 2. The basic building blocks; 3. Going beyond the basics: visual and interactive enhancements to web survey instruments; 4. General layout and design; 5. Putting the questions together to make an instrument; 6. Implementing the design. Author Biography Mick Couper holds a Ph.D. in sociology from Rhodes University, an M.A. in applied social research from the University of Michigan, and an M.Soc.Sc. from the University of Cape Town. He has more than twenty years of experience in the design, implementation, and analysis of survey research on a variety of topics and using many different methods. He has consulted for numerous organizations, both private and public, on all aspects of survey design and data collection. His current research focuses on survey nonresponse, self-administered surveys, and the application of technology to the survey data collection process (including CATI, CAPI, audio-CASI, IVR, and Web surveys). He is co-author of Nonresponse in Household Interview Surveys, chief editor of Computer Assisted Survey Information Collection, co-editor of Methods for Testing and Evaluating Survey Questionnaires, and co-author of Survey Methodology. He has published extensively in a variety of journals. He is a leading international expert on the design and implementation of Internet surveys and regularly teaches short courses, consults, and presents findings of research on Web survey design.

Author Biography

Mick Couper holds a Ph.D. in sociology from Rhodes University, an M.A. in applied social research from the University of Michigan, and an M.Soc.Sc. from the University of Cape Town. He has more than twenty years of experience in the design, implementation, and analysis of survey research on a variety of topics and using many different methods. He has consulted for numerous organizations, both private and public, on all aspects of survey design and data collection. His current research focuses on survey nonresponse, self-administered surveys, and the application of technology to the survey data collection process (including CATI, CAPI, audio-CASI, IVR, and Web surveys). He is co-author of Nonresponse in Household Interview Surveys, chief editor of Computer Assisted Survey Information Collection, co-editor of Methods for Testing and Evaluating Survey Questionnaires, and co-author of Survey Methodology. He has published extensively in a variety of journals. He is a leading international expert on the design and implementation of Internet surveys and regularly teaches short courses, consults, and presents findings of research on Web survey design.