internet market surveys

This page deals with web and email-based marketing surveys. It is under construction. We'll be adding detailed pointers and comment in future, along with papers about technical issues and best practice.

     methodologies

The literature about online survey methodologies is surprisingly slim. As starting points we recommend Don Dillman's Mail & Internet Surveys: The Tailored Design Method (New York: Wiley 00), The Handbook of Online Marketing Research (New York: McGraw-Hill 00) by Joshua Grossnickle & Oliver Raskin and Dimensions of Internet Science (Lengerich: Pabst Science 01) edited by Ulf-Dietrich Reips & Michael Bosnjak.

Dillman's arguably the Jakob Nielsen of web surveys and has published several papers of particular value. These include

the 41 page 2001 paper (PDF) on Response Rate and Measurement Differences in Mixed Mode Surveys Using Mail, Telephone, Interactive Voice Response and the Internet, co-authored with Glenn Phelps, Robert Tortora, Karen Swift, Julie Kohrell & Jodi Berck

the 2001 The Web Questionnaire Challenge to Survey Methodologists paper (PDF) with Dennis Bowker

the 1998 Principles for Constructing Web Surveys paper (PDF) with Bowker & Robert Tortora

the 1998 Influence of Plain vs. Fancy Design on Response Rates for Web Surveys paper (PDF) with Bowker, Tortora & John Conradt

the 1998 paper (PDF) with David Schaefer on Development of a Standard E-mail Methodology: Results of an Experiment

Dennis Bowker & Don Dillman's 2000 paper (PDF) on An Experimental Evaluation of Left and Right Oriented Screens for Web Questionnaires

There's a quick introduction to some issues in Casting the Net: Surveying an Internet Population, a 1997 paper by Christine Smith. For a marketing industry perspective see Survey Research and the World Wide Web (Boston: Allyn & Bacon 99) by Dale Nesbary and Marketing Research: The Impact of the Internet (Mason: South-Western 01) by Carl McDaniel & Roger Gates.

     ethics

Ethics could be taken for granted were it not for the dubious status of some internet data collection, manipulation and presentation practices.

The Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) has published draft Ethics Guidelines for online research, discussed in a paper by Nickolas Jankowski & Martine van Selm on Research Ethics in a Virtual World: Some Guidelines and Illustrations. For broader guidelines see, for example, the Ethical Guidelines for Statistical Practice (EGSP) of the American Statistical Association. In Australia the Association of Market Research Organisations (AMRO), sometimes criticised as one of the more comfy clubs, and the Market Research Society of Australia (MRSA) have issued statements about principle and practice.

     statistics

Basic statistical primers abound. We've pointed to some resources in a later page of our Metrics & Statistics guide. If you're conducting, commissioning or analysing a survey useful - and entertaining - criticisms are found in Darrell Huff's How To Lie With Statistics (New York: Norton 93) and Joel Best's Damned Lies & Statistics (Berkeley: Uni of California Press 01)



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