Online Surveys

Our main focus this week is on the mechanics of using online survey software (namely Qualtrics), as well as using online sources of respondents (e.g., Amazon's Mechanical Turk and Qualtrics' Panel). To a lesser extent, we will also discuss some elements of questionnaire design and sampling.

In class we’ll be creating a qualtrics survey together and I will demonstrate how to get research subjects using mturk. Then we will all download the results from a qualtrics survey, and enter the data into Stata. So …

    • You need to have your qualtrics account up and running

    • You need to have stata up and running

    • If you like, go to the Amazon Mechanical Turk website and create a requester account for yourself.

    • Secondary ReadingsSharpe Wessling, K., Huber, J. and Netzer, O., 2017. MTurk Character Misrepresentation: Assessment and Solutions. Journal of Consumer Research, 44(1), pp.211-230.

    • Susan N. Hoddinott Martin J. Bass. A test of the Dillman Total Design Method [pdf]

    • Dillman. [pdf]

Classic References

  • Dillman, D., Smyth, J. & Christian, L. (2009). Internet, Mail, and Mixed-Mode Surveys: The Tailored Design Method, New York: Wiley.

  • Primary ReadingsTrochim. Survey Research. [php] This is a lot longer than it looks because of all the links within it. Follow them all.

    • Chandler & Shapiro. 2016. Conducting Clinical Research Using Crowdsourced Convenience Samples. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology. 12:53-81. [pdf] [added 17 Sept]

  • Borgatti handouts

    • Asking questions. [html]

    • Sampling. [html]