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Self-Administered Surveys/Questionnaires
A questionnaire is mailed to a large group of people. Individuals will complete surveys in their own time and at their own convenience and return it in a postage prepaid envelope.
Strengths of Self-Administered Surveys
Convenient for respondents to do in their own time
Inexpensive to administer
Longitudinal designs can be used to survey the same set of respondents at different times
High external validity (questionnaire administered in field setting)
Limitations of Self-Administered Surveys
Response rate tends to be low
People are more likely to ignore survey requests
Long delays in respondents completing survey
Time consuming for researcher
Low internal validity (variables cannot be
controlled)
(Bhattacherjee, 2012)
Group Administered Surveys/Questionnaires
A survey administered to respondents that are brought together at a common place and time. The survey would be completed independently at the same time.
Strengths of Group Administered Surveys
Researcher convenience
Ability for respondents to ask questions for clarification
Likely to have a high response rate.
Limitations of Group Administered Surveys
Sampling bias, response/questionaire bias, and social desirability bias
Online/Web-Surveys
Survey’s distributed via the internet have been possible since technological advances in the 1990s. Previous to accessibility of using the internet, mail in surveys were the primary self-administration methodology (Brosnan et al., 2021).
Strengths of Online Surveys
Inexpensive to administer
Data is recorded in a database quickly
Can be sent to a large group of people easily
Can reach remote geographical places
Can include larger geographical span
Limitations of Online Surveys
Sampling bias can occur as this method relies on internet access, therefore certain groups of population may be excluded.
How To Increase Participation In Online Surveys
In a research study conducted by Bronsan and colleagues, it has been found that the rate of participation in online surveys is quite low. Brosnan and colleagues found that there are ten key drivers that emerged in their studies to increase online survey participation including:
incentive payments
speed of completion
ease of completion
topic interest
software functionality
benefit to others
topic knowledge
impact
relationship with brand/ organization
respondent’s opinions being valued (Brosnan et al., 2021).
In conclusion, although online surveys have many benefits, “many researchers prefer dual- media surveys (e.g., mail survey and online survey), allowing respondents to select their preferred method of response” (p. 75, Bhattacherjee, 2012) in the hopes to reduce sampling bias and increase respondent participation.
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