Characteristics of Web Based Surveys and Applications in Travel Research

Abstract

Over the past decade, when conducting surveys by telephone, an increasing number of calls had to be made to achieve contact. However, a high number of calls remained unsolved. This is a result of households adopting new technology such as answering machines, caller id, increased cell phone use (some households only have cell phones and not a land line and it is costly to obtain these numbers if wanting to contact these households by telephone), and multiple phone line households. In addition, thirty percent of households in the United States have unlisted telephone numbers. These factors make it much harder for the researcher to contact the household successfully, resulting in greater survey costs. Due to increased difficulties in contacting prospective respondents, thus combining to low response rates for both mail and telephone surveys, and advances in technology, new survey modes have emerged that are relatively cheap to administer. For example, e-mail surveys require the same level of effort to respond as telephone surveys. There is no need for reply paid envelopes; e-mail and web surveys decrease respondent burden, in relation to self-administered surveys. However, some problematic issues have been identified in relation to Web-based surveys. The most important of these are sample design and representativeness, data quality, anonymity and information security, technological incompatibilities and disruptions. This chapter looks at the evolution of survey methodologies in social science and transport research. Design issues in relation to Web based surveys are discussed along with advantages and disadvantages of this type of survey. Experiences of the author will shed light on important design features of Web based surveys, in a transport context. Furthermore, special issues in terms of travel surveys are discussed.