Web Surveys for the General Population: How, why and when?
Venue
Natcen (2014), pp. 22
Publication Year
2014
Authors
Gerri Nicolaas, Lisa Calderwood, Peter Lynn, Caroline Roberts, Mario Callegaro
BibTeX
Abstract
Cultural and technological change has made the web a possible and even desirable
mode for complex social surveys, but the financial challenges faced by the Research
Councils and the UK Government has accelerated this shift, creating an urgent need
to explore both its potential and hazards for a range of studies. While some
progress in carrying out large-scale complex social surveys on the web has been
made, there is still no consensus about how this can best be achieved while
maintaining population representativeness and preserving data quality. To address
this problem, the NCRM funded a network of methodological innovation “Web Surveys
for the General Population: How, Why and When?” (also known by its acronym
GenPopWeb). A key objective of the network’s activities was to review and
synthesise existing knowledge about the use of web-based data collection for
general population samples and to identify areas where new research is needed. The
network “Web Surveys for the General Population: Why, How and When?” was supported
with funding from the ESRC National Centre for Research Methods under the
initiative Networks for Methodological Innovation 2012. We are also grateful to the
Institute of Education and the University of Essex for hosting the two main events
of the network. We would like to thank all of the presenters at the events as well
as the participants for their contribution. Particular thanks are due to the UK
Core Group for their time, advice and support: Bill Blyth, TNS Global Mario
Callegaro, Google UK Ed Dunn & Laura Wilson, ONS Rory Fitzgerald, City
University London Joanna Lake, ESRC Carli Lessof & Joel Williams, TNS BMRB Nick
Moon, GfK NOP Patten Smith, Ipsos MORI Professor Patrick Sturgis, NCRM Joe Twyman
& Michael Wagstaff, YouGov UK
