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Testing the Effects of Automated Navigation in a General Population Web Survey
[journal article]
Abstract This study investigates how an auto-forward design, where respondents navigate through a web survey automatically, affects response times and navigation behavior in a long mixed-device web survey. We embedded an experiment in a health survey administered to the general population in The Netherlands ... view more
This study investigates how an auto-forward design, where respondents navigate through a web survey automatically, affects response times and navigation behavior in a long mixed-device web survey. We embedded an experiment in a health survey administered to the general population in The Netherlands to test the auto-forward design against a manual-forward design. Analyses are based on detailed paradata that keep track of the respondents’ behavior in navigating the survey. We find that an auto-forward design decreases completion times and that questions on pages with automated navigation are answered significantly faster compared to questions on pages with manual navigation. However, we also find that respondents use the navigation buttons more in the auto-forward condition compared to the manual-forward condition, largely canceling out the reduction in survey duration. Furthermore, we also find that the answer options 'I don't know' and 'I rather not say' are used just as often in the auto-forward condition as in the manual-forward condition, indicating no differences in satisficing behavior. We conclude that auto-forwarding can be used to reduce completing times, but we also advice to carefully consider mixing manual and auto-forwarding within a survey.... view less
Keywords
online survey; user-friendliness; survey research
Classification
Methods and Techniques of Data Collection and Data Analysis, Statistical Methods, Computer Methods
Free Keywords
mixed-device surveys; web surveys; auto-forward; paradata; usability
Document language
English
Publication Year
2022
Page/Pages
p. 107-128
Journal
Methods, data, analyses : a journal for quantitative methods and survey methodology (mda), 16 (2022) 1
ISSN
2190-4936
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed