The influence of visual layout on scalar questions in web surveys

Leah Melani Christian

Ordinal scale questions are frequently used by sociologists. This thesis examines how the visual presentation and layout of response choices influence answers to ordinal scale questions in web surveys. This research extends previous experimentation on paper surveys to this new visual survey mode of the Internet to determine whether the results of varying scale layouts are similar or different. Two sets of comparisons were included in a web survey of a random sample of Washington State University students during the Spring 2003 Semester; 1591 completed surveys were submitted from the 3004 requested obtaining a response rate of 53%. One experiment included a response scale with all categories labeled and compared a vertical linear layout using 4-5 categories to three nonlinear layouts where categories were double or triplebanked in columns across the page. A second set of experiments compared a 5-point fully labeled scale to a polar point scale where the verbal labels were removed for the middle three categories to an answer box format where respondents reported a number in an answer space. Multiple replications within each experiment indicate significant differences in the means between formats as well as significantly different response distributions and these findings tend to confirm previous findings on paper questionnaires and suggest that respondents to both paper and web surveys are similarly affected by visual layout and presentation (Christian and Dillman, In Press). Strong evidence now exists, that the visual presentation and layout of response scales influences respondent answers to self-administered questionnaires and needs to be considered when designing surveys that use ordinal scale questions. These construction differences appear to be important in helping surveyors understand why responses may vary across modes. The increasing use of mixed-mode surveys suggests the need to understand how the mode of communication, visual or aural, can influence how surveyors design questions and how respondents answer those questions.

The influence of visual layout on scalar questions in web surveys

Files and links (1)

Abstract

Metrics

Details