Adding to Art's list:
If one has email addresses for a population of interest and wishes to
collect information that is not particularly sensitive, an internet format
might work as well or better than a mail survey. There would still be
problems of inference if the response rate was low, and perhaps the filters
are different than a mail survey. (There is an empirical question waiting
to be explored.)
(somewhat shakier ground...) If one wishes to learn more about a rare
population (left-handed Lithuanians living in Chicago?), the internet could
be used to find multiple cases (or at least respondents who say they meet
the criteria). Granted, one would not be able to generalize to a
population. However, with careful screening, the responses could be treated
as case studies. If we had direct access to only a very few cases, these
supplementary cases might give us useful ideas for further research.
It may be possible to open up direct contact with interesting cases
(identical twins raised apart from birth?).
Dale Berger
----- Original Message -----
From: Art Kendall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, July 17, 2000 12:29 PM
Subject: Re: On-line survey
> There are a _few_ circumstances in which valid information can be
gathered
> using a survey form on the internet. I can think of three. Perhaps others
can
> identify more such circumstances.
>
> One circumstance is to have volunteers on the internet respond to a
survey form
> as one part of the pretesting of a survey instrument. For example, you can
see
> if there are a lot of "other" responses with a particular write-in answer.
This
> would allow you change the response categories for that question. You
might also
> find different ways the respondents managed to misunderstand questions.
>
> The second circumstance is when the population of interest is on a defined
part
> of the internet (perhaps an intranet), for example, employees of a company
or
> agency.
>
> The third circumstance is to gather some data to practice data cleaning
and
> preparation skills.
>
> Dale Berger wrote:
>
> > Dear Colleagues,
> >
> > I have a student who would like to collect data using a survey form on
the
> > internet. He would like to have data collected in a format that can be
> > imported easily into SPSS. Other desired features: confidentiality,
though
> > not anonymity - that is, he would like to assure users that other users
will
> > not have access to individual responses. He also would like to assure
that
> > no one responds more than one time, and ideally be able to track who has
> > responded.
> >
> > I know there are commercial firms that will do this work, but I would
prefer
> > to have the information collected on our computer, and to be close to
the
> > data collection process. What do we need to know to do this ourselves?
Has
> > anyone had experience with software to make this easier?
> >
> > Thanks for any advice. Dale
> >
> > Dale Berger
> > Professor and Dean, Psychology
> > Claremont Graduate University
> > 123 East Eighth Street
> > Claremont, CA 91711
> >
> > FAX: 909-621-8905
> > Phone: 909-621-8084
> > http://www.cgu.edu/faculty/bergerd.html
> >
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