Web Survey Methods: Introduction

A key characteristic of Web surveys is their diversity. Unlike other modes of data collection, where the method tells us something about both the sampling process and the method of data collection, the term “Web survey” is too broad to give us much useful information about how the study was carried out. For example, referring to an RDD telephone survey describes both the method of sampling (in part) and the mode of data collection. But there are so many different ways to identify sampling frames for Web surveys, to invite people to complete such surveys, and to administer surveys over the Internet (see Couper 2000) that the term “Web survey” conveys little evaluative information. The implications of this diversity are twofold. First, broad generalizations or claims about Web surveys relative to other methods of data collection are ill-advised. Second, much more detail about the process is needed in order for the reader to make judgments about the quality of the process itself or about the resulting data. The papers in this special issue reflect some of the many ways that the Internet can be used—whether alone or in combination with other methods—to conduct surveys. Despite their relatively short history, Web surveys have already had a profound effect on survey research. The first graphic browser (NCSA Mosaic) was released in 1992, with Netscape Navigator following in 1994 and Internet Explorer in 1995. The first published papers on Web surveys appeared in 1996. Since then, there has been a virtual explosion of interest in the Internet generally, and World Wide Web specifically, as a tool for survey data collection (see www.WebSM.org for a detailed bibliography). This is not to say that the early claims that Web surveys will make all other methods of data collection obsolete have come to pass. But it is fair to say that the methodological attention that Web surveys have received has exceeded other modes in a similar time period. In part, this is because the relative cost of Web surveys makes them a more accessible method of data collection than telephone or face-to-face surveys. In addition, the computerized nature of Web surveys facilitates conducting