6
Web surveys
Since the late 1990s, market research agencies have been increasingly using web surveys to investigate market, political, or social aspects. In fact, the growing spread of the internet and the availability of fast internet access have made web surveys an attractive means of collecting survey data, as the web provides simple, fast, and, above all, cheap access to a large group of people. This chapter introduces main types of web surveys, presents their main economic and non-economic benefits, and outlines the main drawbacks associated with online research. It also discusses the application of web surveys for customer and employee satisfaction research projects.
6.1 Introduction
Since the late 1990s, market research agencies have been increasingly using web surveys to investigate market, political, or social phenomena, owing to the spread of the internet and the availability of fast internet access (Cambiar, 2006; Epstein et al., 2001; Fricker and Schonlau, 2002; Schonlau et al., 2002). Sinking response rates of mail and phone surveys and the increased web literacy of the general population have been the major push factors, along with key benefits offered by web surveys such as lower cost, faster data collection, and fewer problems with data editing. A major result has been the optimization of fieldwork processes and the development of what we refer to as e-research.
The development of new methodologies and tools for collecting information ...
