Designing effective web surveys Event
- Time:
- 10:00 - 15:00
- Date:
- 24 - 26 February 2014
- Venue:
- London Knowledge Lab 23-29 Emerald Street London WC1N 3QS
For more information regarding this event, please telephone CASS Courses in Applied Social Surveys programme enquiries on +44 (0)23 8059 5376 or email cass@soton.ac.uk .
Event details
The course will focus on the design of Web survey instruments and procedures.
The course will cover all aspects of instrument design for Web surveys, including the appropriate use of widgets (e.g., radio buttons, check boxes) for Web surveys, general formatting and layout issues, movement through the instrument (action buttons, navigation, error messages), and so on. The course will draw on empirical results from experiments on alternative design approaches as well as practical experience in the design and implementation of a wide variety of Web surveys. The technical aspects of Web survey implementation, such as hardware, software or programming are not the main focus of the course but will be discussed briefly. The course will also address only briefly question wording and sampling issues. (The course will allow time for course participants interested in certain aspects of Web survey designs to discuss such issues with the presenter in more detail). The course is designed for researchers new to this topic as well as for those who already have some knowledge in this area.
Course Objectives:
- To provide participants with an understanding of the importance of design in reducing measurement error in Web surveys.
- To provide participants with the practical knowledge and tools to make appropriate design choices and decisions.
Course Content:
This course will include the following topics:
- Why design is important, and how Web surveys differ from other modes.
- Types of Web surveys and implications for design.
- Basic HTML tools for creating survey questions; radio buttons, check boxes, drop boxes, text fields, text areas, etc.
- Going beyond HTML: multimedia, graphics, client-side and server-side scripts, etc.
- General layout and design: typography, font size and style; background design; layout and screen design; use of grids or matrices; designing for mobile Web.
- Putting the questions together to create a questionnaire: instructions; skips, edit checks and routing; progress and movement through the instrument; error messages.
- Implementing the Web survey: prenotification and invitation modes and design; access control and login; the welcome screen; follow-up reminders and repeat access.
- The course will have a strong practical emphasis, examining many different examples of good and bad design. Participants are encouraged to bring their own Web survey designs and instruments for discussion.
Target Audience:
The course is aimed at both producers and users of Web surveys. The focus is on design rather than programming issues. It is aimed at those who want to design and implement Web surveys to maximize data quality. Many different types of surveys and survey topics will be covered, with examples from government, academic, and commercial surveys. The course is aimed equally at researchers from academia, government and the voluntary and private sector. The course is designed for researchers new to this topic as well as for those who already have some knowledge in this area.
Location
The room is on the ground floor and participants will need to ring the bell to get in to the building. The address, maps and public transport info for the London Knowledge Lab can be found here .
Duration:
This is a 3 day course. The course will begin at 10.00am on the first day (with registration and coffee from 9.30am) and will end at about 17.00pm. On the 2nd day the course will begin at 09.30am and will end at about 17.00pm. On the last day the course will start at 9.30am and formal teaching will finish between 14.00pm and 15.00pm. Afterwards there will be an opportunity for questions until about 3.30pm / 4.00pm. In this question session course participants can discuss their own Web survey design and instruments with the Instructor.
Find out more about Fees, teaching and reading lists
Speaker information
Professor Mick P Couper ,University of Michigan,Research Professor at the Joint Program in Survey Methodology and Research Professor at the Survey Research Center