Web-based expert surveys: The opportunities for conducting web-based elite expert surveys

Abstract

Web-surveys are today commonly used in a wide range of areas. The interest in web-based surveys is not surprising as they offer a number of advantages compared to traditional mail or telephone interviews. Among the most distinctive positive features are the reductions both in terms of time and costs compared to more traditional surveys. However, even though most parts of the traditional mail- or telephone surveys easily can be translated directly into web-surveys, other methodological and practical obstacles are raised by the use of the internet. This paper sets out to further explore the pros and cons of web-surveys as a tool for conducting web-based elite/expert surveys. The results show that it is important to identify the experts and establish a personal contact, possibly by mail, e-mail or by telephone. Paper-and-pencil surveys do sometimes yield higher response rates compared to web-surveys and should therefore be offered as an alternative. Mixed designs using both paper-and-pencil surveys together with web surveys, do also yield highly similar results. Attrition rates seem to be closely connected with the perceptions of the effort required to complete the survey. Clean and neutral graphics do also seem to produce higher response rates. Language barriers may sometimes be a problem, why the survey should be prepared for the most commonly spoken languages. Reminders should be made cautiously and with a combination of e-mail and post-cards. To build sufficient trust, the project requires some levels of transparency and recognized credibility of the researchers.