Online Survey Research: Can Response Factors Be Improved?

Abstract

ABSTRACT The use of the Internet and online methods for data collection brings about new challenges for academic and managerial researchers. Our objective is to advance our level of knowledge regarding online data collection through an experiment. Using a local organization's e-mail list, we evaluate survey introductory elements such as invitation from a known leader and introductory length. We evaluate resulting levels of response rate, response quality, and respondent satisfaction to assess the effects of modified survey introductory designs. Findings reveal that an invitation from a known leader leads to improved levels of response quality while shorter introductions result in a quicker response from survey participants.