Does User Choice of Device Impact the Results of Online Surveys?: An Analysis of the Effects of Screen Widths and Questionnaire Layouts

Does User Choice of Device Impact the Results of Online Surveys?: An Analysis of the Effects of Screen Widths and Questionnaire Layouts

Helge Nissen, Monique Janneck
Copyright: © 2019 |Pages: 17
DOI: 10.4018/IJEUCD.2019070101
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Abstract

This article investigates how and to what extent the data collected, the dropout rate, and the completion time in online surveys is influenced by the device used to fill out the questionnaire. To that end, an extensive online study with N=1493 was carried out. To address difficulties associated with the use of devices with smaller displays, different layout variants aimed at optimizing questionnaire usability for smartphones were developed and analyzed. Completion time, drop-out rate, and response patterns were compared across different display sizes and layout variants. Results show significantly lower completion times and drop-out rates when the questionnaire was answered on a larger display. Also, different answering patterns emerged among participants using mobile devices. Likewise, the study revealed effects of different questionnaire layouts. The authors discuss implications for the design of online questionnaire in order to obtain reliable data from online surveys.
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2. Background

In this paper, the findings obtained so far on the suitability of smartphones for participation in online surveys are considered from the perspective of human-computer interaction and the results described here are discussed in this regard. The research foundation of this study is therefore the concept of usability, defined as “the extent to which a system, product or service can be used by specific users to achieve specific goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specific usage context” (ISO, 2018). The concrete context can only be determined to a limited extent in a quantitative study. Therefore, an undefined situation is assumed in which the participants interact with a technical device. The specific user can be expected to be a more or less typical participant. However, the other components of effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction can be used for a usability analysis by deriving suitable measurement results. When analyzing the effectiveness of a survey, the accuracy and validity of the data is measured, for example by examining whether there are any deviations (Geisen & Bergstrom, 2017, p. 9). Efficiency and satisfaction are closely related to the reduction of the burden on participants. Hence, dropouts indicate high effort and consequently less satisfaction, and a reduction in time can increase efficiency (Geisen & Bergstrom, 2017, p. 10).

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