Introduction/Overview

This one-day course provides an overview of web survey design and the key decisions and trade-offs this entails.

The course will provide participants with:

• An understanding of key terms, types of designs and software functionality considerations
• An understanding of the benefits and limitations of different designs and a framework for working through design decisions
• Experience in designing aspects of web surveys and evaluating different options
• An awareness of different strategies that can be used to deal with the limitations of web surveys

Course objectives

By the end of the workshop, participants will:

• Feel more confident about what web surveys are and the terminology used
• Be able to compare different web survey designs, their strengths and weaknesses
• Be able to identify key design decisions and apply principles to work through them
• Be able to identify potential sources of error in web surveys and identify strategies to address them

Topics

• Key terms and concepts
• Survey modes – strengths and limitations
• Design considerations for web surveys
• Sampling & recruitment Encouraging participation
• Questionnaire design
• Dealing with mobile devices
• Data veracity
• Choice of software
• Testing Strategies for dealing with the limitations of web

Who will benefit

Those planning their own web survey or who want to understand more about them

Course tutor

Debbie Collins is an experienced survey researcher, methodologist and trainer at NatCen. She led NatCen’s Questionnaire Development and Testing Hub from 2012-2015 and has led methodological reviews for a range of organisations.

Course fee payable to SRA

  This course contributes 6 hours to the MRS CPD programme