Internet Survey Data Research Articles

Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on consumers' food safety knowledge and behavior in China

This study assesses the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Chinese residents' food safety knowledge and behavior, and explores the possible influence mechanism, namely, focus on media information. The study is based on internet survey data of 1 373 residents in China. A series of econometric models are developed to estimate food safety knowledge and behavior of residents. Both the descriptive and econometric results indicate that the existence of COVID-19 cases in a community has a significantly positive effect on residents' food safety knowledge and behavior. Residents focusing on food safety-related information tend to have higher food safety knowledge and practice food safety behavior. When controlling the variable focused on food safety-related information, the marginal effects of the existence of COVID-19 cases in a community on residents' food safety knowledge and behavior significantly decrease. However, the decrease in consumers' food safety knowledge is quite minor. Hence, the COVID-19 pandemic indeed improves Chinese residents' food safety knowledge and behavior, while focus on food safety-related information is an important mechanism for improving food safety behavior. Moreover, the estimation results of the simultaneous equations model reveal that consumers' food safety knowledge has a significant and positive effect on their food safety behavior. Heterogeneous impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on residents' food safety knowledge and behavior among different regions and income groups are observed. The findings of this study provide evidence that public health events could enhance residents' safety awareness and behavior, while residents' focus on relevant information plays an important role in improving knowledge and impacting behavior.

Performance information and learning effects on citizen satisfaction with public services

ABSTRACT This article examines the learning effects of citizen perceptions on satisfaction with public services. Using an experimental method with internet survey data in Michigan, the study observed the relationship between performance minus expectations (PME) and satisfaction became linear after providing concrete information, indicating that citizens’ antigovernment recognition can be modified by information. Moreover, the learning effect in counties was larger than in municipalities since citizens tend to clearly recognize services for regional governments. Governments should provide preferential treatment to citizens to improve the quality of cognitive process depending on individuals in different PME conditions across different governance levels.

Impact of Gaps in the Educational Levels between Married Partners on Health and a Sustainable Lifestyle: Evidence from 32 Countries

Using original cross-sectional internet survey data from 32 countries covering six continents, we investigated the impact of education gaps between married partners on their health status and sustainable lifestyles using the instrumental variable method. A self-rated health status index, mental health index, and an objective health status index were utilized to assess the health statuses of individuals, and six unique indices were used to investigate the sustainable lifestyles. According to the main findings, work-family conflicts may be severe for both wives and husbands with high education levels, and the hypothesis regarding the positive effect of income was not supported. Two major conclusions were derived. First, in general, as opposed to couples with equal education levels, the probability of reporting a worse health status was higher, and the activities related to sustainable development such as improving environmental sustainability were less for couples with education gaps. Second, a comparison of the effects of education gaps on the health status of couples in various groups reveals that highly educated groups, women, and people in Asian or middle-income countries had a higher negative effect on their health status.

The Joneses in Japan: income comparisons and financial satisfaction

This paper uses relatively large-scale internet survey data from Japan to analyse income comparisons and income satisfaction. In contrast to the vast majority of empirical work in the area of subjective well-being, we are able to measure both the direction (to whom?) and intensity (how much?) dimensions of income comparisons. Relative to Europeans, the Japanese compare more to friends and less to colleagues, and compare their incomes more. The relationship between satisfaction and reference-group income is negative and more negative for those who say that they compare their incomes more. Our main finding concerns the measure of the relevant reference-group income. It is common in non-experimental work to calculate “others’ income” as some conditional or unconditional cell-mean, with the cells being defined by neighbourhood, workplace or demographic type. We show that two such cell-mean measures (one from within the dataset, the other matched in from external sources) fit the well-being data worse than does a simple self-reported measure of what relevant others earn. The self-reported measure of others’ income would arguably make a useful addition to many existing surveys.

"Tell me what you suggest, and let's do that, doctor": Patient deliberation time during informal decision-making in clinical trials.

Informed consent is an essential part of an ethical clinical trial; to this end, researchers have developed several interventions to promote participants’ full understanding of trials and thereby improve the consent process. However, few empirical studies have examined how patients make the decision of whether to give consent. The objective of this study, therefore, is to analyze patients’ decision-making process when participating in clinical trials. We conduct an internet survey (n = 2,045) and interview data analysis (n = 40) with patients and categorize respondents into three types of participants: active, passive, and non-participation. Our results show that patients often make informal and quick decisions before medical staff provide them with relevant information during the informed consent process. For example, 55.9% of patients received initial information on clinical trials from an online article or web advertising, and 54.5% consulted no one about whether to participate in the clinical trial before making a decision. Only 20.7% of respondents subjectively spent time making the decision whether to participate; 43.0% of patients who said that they “spent time” coming to a decision took four or more days to reach a decision, while 8.3% of people who “did not spend time” making a decision took this among of time. Based on these results, we were able to break patients’ decision-making process into four steps: first contact, informal decision making, relevant information, and formal decision making. Our results show that patients are most likely to make a decision based on the first information they receive on the clinical trial, whatever the source. To this end, having a list of questions for potential participants to ask researchers would be useful in helping better collecting information of clinical trials. In addition, research teams should give patients more than four days to decide between providing them with relevant information and obtaining written consent, even if the patient seems to make a quick decision.

Prevalence of the excessive daytime sleepiness in Russian Federation

Background. Excessive daytime sleepiness is a very important symptom of a wide range of pathological conditions and has a significant impact on both the individual patient and the society as a whole. Estimation of the prevalence of excessive daytime sleepiness, identifying the cause, and also its elimination is an important socio-economic task.Objective to estimate the prevalence of excessive daytime sleepiness in the population of the Russian Federation according to the Internet survey data and the distribution of the estimate of the daytime sleepiness by age and body mass index.Materials and methods. One-time study according to the Internet survey data on the Epworth drowsiness scale (ESS).Results. Excessive daytime sleepiness (more than 10 points on the ESS scale) was observed in 40,9% of respondents.Conclusion. According to the results of the study, excessive daytime sleepiness is widespread in the Russian Federation, which speaks of its socio-economic significance, the need for measures to identify its causes and their elimination.

Association between somatic symptom burden and health-related quality of life in people with chronic low back pain.

Depression is a relevant risk factor for low back pain and is associated with the outcomes of low back pain. Depression also often overlaps with somatisation. As previous studies have suggested that somatisation or a higher somatic symptom burden has a role in the outcomes of low back pain, the aim of the present cross-sectional study was to examine whether somatic symptom burden was associated with health-related quality of life in individuals with chronic low back pain independent of depression. We analyzed internet survey data on physical and mental health in Japanese adults aged 20–64 years with chronic low back pain (n = 3,100). Health-related quality of life was assessed using the EuroQol five dimensions (EQ-5D) questionnaire. Somatic symptom burden and depression were assessed using the Somatic Symptom Scale-8 (SSS-8) and the Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2), respectively. SSS-8 score was categorized as no to minimal (0–3), low (4–7), medium (8–11), high (12–15), and very high (16–32). The association between SSS-8 and EQ-5D was examined using linear regression models, adjusting for depression and other covariates, including age, sex, BMI, smoking, marital status, education, exercise, employment, and the number of comorbid diseases. A higher somatic symptom burden was significantly associated with a lower health-related quality of life independent of depression and the number of comorbid diseases (regression coefficient = 0.040 for SSS-8 high vs. very high and 0.218 for non to minimal vs. very high, p trend <0.0001). In conclusion, somatic symptom burden might be important for the health-related quality of life of individuals with chronic low back pain.

Structural Validation and Multiple Group Assessment of the Short Internalized Homonegativity Scale in Homosexual and Bisexual Men in 38 European Countries: Results From the European MSM Internet Survey

Internalized homonegativity (IH) is the internalization of negative attitudes and assumptions about homosexual people by homosexual people themselves. To measure IH, Smolenski, Diamond, Ross, and Rosser (2010) and Ross, Rosser, and Smolenski (2010) revised the Reactions to Homosexuality Scale (RHS) to develop the Short Internalized Homonegativity Scale (SIHS) with eight items. Using the European Men Who Have Sex With Men Internet Survey (EMIS) data, with an analytic sample of 130,718 gay and bisexual men in 38 European countries, we confirmed the validity of the SIHS scale in both training and validation data, in strata of Ross, Berg, et al.’s (2013) three “homosexual discrimination” country clusters, of age, and of education level. However, the performance was less adequate in comparison of gay versus bisexually identified individuals. The latent SIHS structure contains only minor variations across these three strata. The seven-item scale performed as well as the eight-item scale. The SIHS is a promising candidate for standard IH measures, which is invariant across cultural, age, and educational strata.

Sleep and optimism: A longitudinal study of bidirectional causal relationship and its mediating and moderating variables in a Chinese student sample

ABSTRACTWhile both sleep and optimism have been found to be predictive of well-being, few studies have examined their relationship with each other. Neither do we know much about the mediators and moderators of the relationship. This study investigated (1) the causal relationship between sleep quality and optimism in a college student sample, (2) the role of symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress as mediators, and (3) how circadian preference might moderate the relationship. Internet survey data were collected from 1,684 full-time university students (67.6% female, mean age = 20.9 years, SD = 2.66) at three time-points, spanning about 19 months. Measures included the Attributional Style Questionnaire, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Composite Scale of Morningness, and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21. Moderate correlations were found among sleep quality, depressive mood, stress symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and optimism. Cross-lagged analyses showed a bidirectional effect between optimism and sleep quality. Moreover, path analyses demonstrated that anxiety and stress symptoms partially mediated the influence of optimism on sleep quality, while depressive mood partially mediated the influence of sleep quality on optimism. In support of our hypothesis, sleep quality affects mood symptoms and optimism differently for different circadian preferences. Poor sleep results in depressive mood and thus pessimism in non-morning persons only. In contrast, the aggregated (direct and indirect) effects of optimism on sleep quality were invariant of circadian preference. Taken together, people who are pessimistic generally have more anxious mood and stress symptoms, which adversely affect sleep while morningness seems to have a specific protective effect countering the potential damage poor sleep has on optimism. In conclusion, optimism and sleep quality were both cause and effect of each other. Depressive mood partially explained the effect of sleep quality on optimism, whereas anxiety and stress symptoms were mechanisms bridging optimism to sleep quality. This was the first study examining the complex relationships among sleep quality, optimism, and mood symptoms altogether longitudinally in a student sample. Implications on prevention and intervention for sleep problems and mood disorders are discussed.

Same concerns, same responses? A Bayesian quantile regression analysis of the determinants for supporting nuclear power generation in Japan

Using internet survey data from 6,500 individuals, this study examines the determinants for supporting the restart of nuclear power plants operation in Japan. As in previous studies, the variable of interest is a categorical and ordered variable that measures the level of support, for which ordered logit or ordered probit is commonly estimated. This study departs from the literature by using Bayesian ordinal quantile regression recently proposed by Rahman (2015). This approach allowed us to explore whether covariates have differential effects at various conditional quantiles of the latent response variable, which can be interpreted as the willingness to support the restart. The results show that for most of the covariates we examined, including concerns about meltdowns and the storage of nuclear material and concerns about global warming, the effects differ across conditional quantiles. In other words, the covariate effects depend on individuals’ unobserved preferences for the restart (conditional on observables). The results also show that for some covariates, the effects differ considerably across gender.

The effect of demand response on purchase intention of distributed generation: Evidence from Japan

Participation in demand response (DR) may affect a consumer's electric consumption pattern through consumption load curtailment, a shift in the consumption timing or increasing the utilization of distributed generation (DG). This paper attempts to provide empirical evidence of DR's effect on DG adoption by household consumers. By using the original Internet survey data of 5442 household respondents in Japan conducted in January 2015, we focus on the effect of the time-of-use (TOU) tariff on the purchasing intention of photovoltaic systems (PV). The empirical results show the following: 1) current TOU plan users have stronger PV purchase intentions than the other plan users, 2) respondents who are familiar with the DR program have relatively higher purchase intentions compared with their counterparts, and 3) when the respondents are requested to assume participation in the virtual TOU plan designed for the survey, which resembles plans currently available through major companies, 1.2% of the households have decided to purchase PV. In addition, we provide calculations of TOU's impacts on the official PV adoption and emissions reduction targets, and discuss policy recommendations to increase recognitions and participations in TOU programs.

Predicting habits of vegetable parenting practices to facilitate the design of change programmes.

Habit has been defined as the automatic performance of a usual behaviour. The present paper reports the relationships of variables from a Model of Goal Directed Behavior to four scales in regard to parents' habits when feeding their children: habit of (i) actively involving child in selection of vegetables; (ii) maintaining a positive vegetable environment; (iii) positive communications about vegetables; and (iv) controlling vegetable practices. We tested the hypothesis that the primary predictor of each habit variable would be the measure of the corresponding parenting practice. Internet survey data from a mostly female sample. Primary analyses employed regression modelling with backward deletion, controlling for demographics and parenting practices behaviour. Houston, Texas, USA. Parents of 307 pre-school (3-5-year-old) children. Three of the four models accounted for about 50 % of the variance in the parenting practices habit scales. Each habit scale was primarily predicted by the corresponding parenting practices scale (suggesting validity). The habit of active child involvement in vegetable selection was also most strongly predicted by two barriers and rudimentary self-efficacy; the habit of maintaining a positive vegetable environment by one barrier; the habit of maintaining positive communications about vegetables by an emotional scale; and the habit of controlling vegetable practices by a perceived behavioural control scale. The predictiveness of the psychosocial variables beyond parenting practices behaviour was modest. Discontinuing the habit of ineffective controlling parenting practices may require increasing the parent's perceived control of parenting practices, perhaps through simulated parent-child interactions.

Knowledge and Attitudes Regarding Antibiotic Use Among Adult Consumers, Adult Hispanic Consumers, and Health Care Providers--United States, 2012-2013.

Appropriate antibiotic use, in particular avoidance of antibiotics for upper respiratory infections likely to be caused by viruses, is a key component of efforts to slow the increase in antibiotic-resistant infections. Studies suggest that Hispanic consumers might differ from non-Hispanic consumers in their knowledge and attitudes regarding antibiotic use (4). To better understand health care provider and consumer knowledge and attitudes that influence antibiotic use, CDC analyzed national internet survey data collected from participants living in the United States during 2012-2013. The participants represented three groups: 1) the total population of adult consumers (all ethnicities); 2) adult Hispanic consumers; and 3) health care providers. Hispanic consumers were more likely than all consumers to believe that if they have a cold, antibiotics would help them to get better more quickly (48% versus 25%), and more likely to obtain antibiotics not prescribed by a clinician, such as antibiotics left over from a previous illness (25% versus 9%), obtained from a neighborhood grocery store (23% versus 5%), or obtained from a friend or family member (17% versus 6%). Most providers surveyed (54%) reported that they believed their patients expect antibiotics during visits for a cough or cold, whereas 26% of all consumers reported this expectation. To maximize knowledge about appropriate antibiotic use among outpatients in the United States, public health initiatives should target Hispanic as well as general audiences.

Predicting UK Unemployment with Internet Search and Survey Data

Internet search data could be a useful source of information for policymakers when formulating decisions based on their understanding of the current economic environment. This paper builds on earlier literature via a structured value assessment of the data provided by Google Trends. This is done through two empirical exercises related to the forecasting of changes in UK unemployment. Firstly, economic intuition provides the basis for search term selection, with a resulting Google indicator tested alongside survey-based variables in a traditional forecasting environment. Secondly, this environment is expanded into a pseudo-time nowcasting framework which provides the backdrop for assessing the timing advantage that Google data have over surveys. The framework is underpinned by a MIDAS regression which allows, for the first time, the easy incorporation of internet search data at its true sampling rate into a nowcast model for predicting unemployment.

Why do people participate in Web surveys? Applying survey participation theory to Internet survey data collection

In recent years Web surveys have emerged as the most popular mode of primary data collection in market and social research. To improve our understanding about the influence of different societal-level factors, characteristics of the sample person, and attributes of the survey design on participation in Web surveys, this paper establishes a systematic link between theoretical frameworks used to explain survey participation behavior and state-of-the-art empirical research on online data collection methods. The concepts of self-perception, cognitive dissonance, commitment and involvement, social exchange, compliance, leverage-salience, and planned behavior are discussed and their relationship with factors that have empirically proven to influence Web survey participation are analyzed using data from an expert survey. This paper will help researchers and practitioners to make informed decisions about the use of techniques increasing participation in Web surveys.

AuD-Degree Holders in Tenure-Track Positions: Survey of Program Chairpersons and AuD-Degree Holders

The doctor of audiology (AuD) degree is now the entry-level degree for the profession of audiology. Typically, AuD programs train professionals for clinical careers, while those offering PhDs educate students for university teaching and research positions. Some in the communication sciences and disorders have predicted that there could be a shortage of PhDs in academic institutions over the next decade as senior faculty members with PhDs retire, AuD programs expand, and likely fewer students complete PhD degrees or elect to pursue careers in academia. If a PhD shortage becomes a reality, then one solution might be to include AuDs as candidates for vacant academic tenure-track positions. To survey AuD-degree holders' (AuDs') and program chairpersons' (chairs') views about AuDs in academic tenure-track positions. National Internet survey Data Collection and Analysis: Two questionnaires were designed for this study. One was e-mailed to 1575 "AuDs in general" (randomly sampled from the American Academy of Audiology Membership Directory) and 132 "AuDs in academia." The other was e-mailed to 64 chairs from programs offering the AuD. The two surveys included similar questions so that comparisons could be made across groups. Potential respondents were e-mailed an informational letter inviting them to participate by completing a survey on SurveyMonkey within a 2 wk period in March and April 2010. This process resulted in three data sets: (1) AuDs in general, (2) AuDs in academia, and (3) program chairs. Return rates were 25, 26, and 45% for the three sampling methods for recruiting AuDs in general, AuDs in academia, and program chairs, respectively. Of the respondents, few AuDs held academic tenure-track positions or had achieved rank and tenure success in them. Those AuDs in academia usually had to meet the same or similarly rigorous criteria (with heavier emphasis on teaching than on research) for advancement as did PhD faculty. Overall, AuDs tended to believe that AuDs could be appointed to and succeed at tenure-track positions; chairs reported that such appointments were not permitted in most programs, did not personally believe that AuDs should hold these positions, and felt that AuDs would have more difficulty than PhDs in achieving success in them. Obstacles to AuDs' success in tenure-track positions reported by all three groups included lack of research skills and mentors, biases from faculty within and outside of audiology departments, and poorer pay than could be earned in the private sector. Considerable variability existed in the types of and titles for faculty positions held by AuDs in academia. Few AuDs were employed in tenure-track positions. Contrary to many of the chairs' responses, most AuDs felt they would be successful in such positions. Many of the AuDs suggested that universities with AuD programs should add more research and mentorship opportunities and tenure tracks for clinicians. Most respondents believed there is a need for both AuDs and PhDs in academic programs. These findings should be of interest to AuDs, chairs, and other stakeholders in academia, and the survey responses identified some areas warranting future investigation.

Learning electoral geography? Party campaigning, constituency marginality and voting at the 2010 British general election

Multi‐party single‐member constituency electoral systems such as Great Britain’s are characterised by the political parties carefully targeting their local campaigns to maximise the number of seats won. They focus their activities on constituencies where either victory is likely or defeat is possible, which involves ensuring that residents are aware of the local context and the party’s electoral prospects there. But how do voters assess a party’s chances of victory locally; how aware are they of the local situation and to what extent does party campaigning change this? Analysis of British Election Study internet panel survey data shows that although many voters had an accurate assessment of each party’s chance of victory locally in 2010 many either over‐ or under‐estimated its chances relative to the actual situation. Furthermore a substantial proportion changed their assessments as the election campaign progressed. Those contacted by a party during the various stages of the campaign tended to assess its chances of local victory as higher than those not contacted, especially if they also thought it had a good chance of winning the contest nationally, and such individuals were more likely to vote for the party than those not contacted.

Tactical Voting at the 2010 British General Election: Rational Behaviour in Local Contexts?

Tactical voting is an important element of British electoral behaviour, with approximately one sixth of all voters surveyed indicating that they voted tactically at the 2010 general election. Such voting for one's second preference party rather than one's first in order to prevent a less preferred party winning in a constituency is only rational in certain circumstances, reflecting the local context and electors' perceptions of the tactical situation there. Using 2010 British Election Study Internet survey data, this paper uses three separate definitions of tactical voting (two self-defined by the respondents, one inferred from a separate indication of their preferences) to test whether rational voting models successfully predict such behaviour. The findings are very clear and consistent with the theory, for all three groups.

The DSCP-CA

The purpose of this study was to develop a decision support system using fuzzy logic that would support nurses' decisions about cancer pain management, especially for ethnic minority cancer patients. The study had two phases: (1) data collection and (2) development of the decision support computer program. In the data collection phase, an Internet survey of 428 cancer patients and four ethnic-specific online forums (about 30 participants per forum) were conducted to gather data on the cancer pain experience of the four major ethnic groups in the United States. The development phase included two components: (1) development of three modules, including a knowledge base module, a decision module, and a self-adaptation module; and (2) a 3-month evaluation of the decision support computer program by oncology nurses and subsequent incorporation of their feedback into the program. The Internet survey and online forum data were processed into fuzzy and crisp data sets, and ethnic-specific algorithms for the decision module were developed. Using the self-adaptation module, the decision support computer program was further refined as additional data were processed. Then, the decision support computer program was further developed by adding additional components suggested by the oncology nurses.

An Evaluation of Factors Affecting the Choice of Coastal Recreational Activities

A visitor's decision to use a particular recreational site is influenced by the individual's taste as well as the characteristics of the site. For this reason, improved knowledge of the visitors' interests and factors influencing their choices are vital for both planning and policy formulations in coastal development. This study examines visitor characteristics and desired site-specific characteristics in order to determine the factors affecting use of the Louisiana coast for specific recreational purposes. We use a multinomial logit model and internet survey data to evaluate the factors affecting individuals' decisions to visit coastal Louisiana for a specific use. Results suggest that the major variables affecting the choice of coastal recreational activities include environmental quality of the site, income, and travel time.