ONLINE SURVEYS HAVE REVOLUTIONIZED the way educational researchers collect data. No more paper, no more postage, and no more telephones. 

Web-based surveys provide significantly quicker response times compared to postal mail surveys (Schaefer & Dillman, 1998). Electronic surveys typically receive much longer replies to open-ended question than paper versions. The cost of data collection using electronic surveys is much lower than mail surveys. In addition, web survey data can be tracked more easily than paper surveys.

The survey was designed using Dillman’s principles for web survey construction (Dillman, Tortora & Bowker, 1998). Some of their ideas include the following:

                  Begin the survey with a welcome screen that is clear, concise, and provides general instructions. 

                  Each of your questions should be completely readable on a single screen so that your respondents do not need to scroll down or across.

 
                  Each question page should include specific instructions on how to submit a response to the question and how to advance to the next question/page. 

                  Use text messages or graphics to identify where the survey respondent is in the entire web survey, such as "Page 1 of 3". 

                  Word your questions in the same kind of format that you would use for a paper survey.

Choose your colors, text, and alignment very carefully.

The text should be centered on the screen, and any text within each Likert scale should be left-aligned. (Bowker & Dillman, 2000).

Include an open-ended question at the end of the survey so that participants may reply with technical comments and other feedback.

Be sure to write the code/design so that an automatic pop-up window will alert the participant to complete all required fields before submitting their responses.

Design your survey in a nice, but plain appearance. Do not get too fancy. (Dillman et al, 1998).

Participants should be assured confidentiality and that their answers are collected on a secure server. 

For more information on survey questions, see the EET article on Types of Survey Questions.

Eric G. Lovik, PhD candidate in Higher Education
The Pennsylvania State University