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"Due to recent scholarly attention to visual design, much is known about the effects that specific design features have on web surveys, but little attention has been paid to the effects of overall screen design. Applying Norman's (2004) emotional design concepts to web survey design, the authors propose and test hypotheses related to potential detrimental impacts of poor screen aesthetics. To do so, they compare data collected from two versions of the same Student Experience Survey, an experimental design representing poor aesthetics and a control design representing good emotional design. By triggering negative visceral responses and, thus, emotional reactions, the experimental design is predicted to reduce data quality along four avenues: respondent cooperation, substantive response patterns, respondent commitment, and subjective survey experience. Sixteen of 30 total comparisons show reduced data quality on the experimental forms, and all avenues to quality data show some impact. These findings suggest that screen design aesthetics and emotional reactions can impact data quality, independent of survey content. However, the inconsistent results according to some indicators suggest the need for further research on screen design effects to hone our understanding." (author's abstract)

"Recent survey design research has shown that small changes in the structure and visual layout of questions can affect respondents' answers. While the findings have provided strong evidence of such effects, they are limited by the homogeneity of their samples, in that many of these studies have used random samples of college students. In this paper, the authors examine the effects of seven experimental alterations in question format and visual design using data from a general population survey that allows us to examine the effects of demographic differences among respondents. Results from a 2005 random sample mail survey of 1,315 households in a small metropolitan region of the United States suggest that the visual layout of survey questions affects different demographic groups in similar ways." (author's abstract)

Researchers who are interested in small towns and rural communities in the United States often find that they need to conduct their own sample surveys because many large national surveys, such as the American Community Survey, do not collect enough representative responses to make precise estimates. In collecting their own survey data, researchers face a number of challenges, such as sampling and coverage limitations. This article summarizes those challenges and tests mail and Internet methodologies for collecting data in small towns and rural communities using the U.S. Postal Service’s Delivery Sequence File as a sample frame. Findings indicate that the Delivery Sequence File can be used to sample households in rural locations by sending them invitations via postal mail to respond to either paper-and-pencil or Internet surveys. Although the mail methodology is quite successful, the results for the Internet suggest that Web surveys alone exclude potentially important segments of the population of small towns and rural communities. However, Web surveys supplemented with postal questionnaires produce results quite similar to those of mail-only surveys, representing a possible cost savings for researchers who have access to Web survey capabilities.

Recent survey design research has shown that small changes in the structure and visual layout of questions can affect respondents’ answers. While the findings have provided strong evidence of such effects, they are limited by the homogeneity of their samples, in that many of these studies have used random samples of college students. In this paper, we examine the effects of seven experimental alterations in question format and visual design using data from a general population survey that allows us to examine the effects of demographic differences among respondents. Results from a 2005 random sample mail survey of 1,315 households in a small metropolitan region of the United States suggest that the visual layout of survey questions affects different demographic groups in similar ways.

Innovation within survey modes should always be mitigated by concerns about survey quality and in particular sampling, coverage, nonresponse, and measurement error. This is as true today with the development of web surveying as it was in the 1970s when telephone surveying was being developed. This paper focuses on measurement error in web surveys. Although Internet technology provides significant opportunities for innovation in survey design, systematic research has yet to be conducted on how most of the possible innovations might affect measurement error, leaving many survey designers “out in the cold.” This paper summarizes recent research to provide an overview of how choosing the web mode affects the asking and answering of questions. It starts with examples of how question formats used in other survey modes perform differently in the web mode. It then provides examples of how the visual design of web surveys can influence answers in unexpected ways and how researchers can strategically use visual design to get respondents to provide their answers in a desired format. Finally, the paper concludes with suggested guidelines for web survey design.