{"title":"Supplementing a Paper Questionnaire with Web and Two-way Short Message Service (SMS) Surveys","authors":"Maura Spiegelman, Allison Zotti, Julia Merlin","doi":"10.1093/jssam/smae006","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"\n When deciding which modes to offer, researchers consider cost, known respondent contact information, and potential mode effects. For a short survey on employment, we evaluate the effect of adding one of two new electronic data collection modes to a mailed questionnaire. We sent a survey to principals who previously responded to the National Center for Education Statistics’ (NCES) National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS) asking about their current job status. This questionnaire, known as the Principal Follow-up Survey (PFS), has typically been administered as a short paper form that is mailed to NTPS respondents. In 2022, the PFS introduced two new modes of completion, and principals were randomly assigned to receive: (i) a paper form only; (ii) a paper form, as well as emails with a direct link to complete a web survey; or (iii) a paper form, as well as invitations by text message to complete an automated two-way short message service text survey by responding to texted “yes/no” questions. This article compares overall response rates and time-to-response by mode to determine respondent preferences for completing short surveys. Adding either electronic mode significantly increased response rates and decreased the number of days in which completed surveys were received, compared to offering only a paper questionnaire. Although email and text messages are both forms of electronic communication that may be accessible on a smartphone, the added text message survey resulted in higher response rates than the added web survey. This suggests that respondents interact differently with emails and text messages they receive and that offering an option to complete a survey by text message can increase the speed and efficiency of data collection for short surveys.","PeriodicalId":17146,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Survey Statistics and Methodology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6000,"publicationDate":"2024-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Survey Statistics and Methodology","FirstCategoryId":"100","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jssam/smae006","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"数学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"SOCIAL SCIENCES, MATHEMATICAL METHODS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
When deciding which modes to offer, researchers consider cost, known respondent contact information, and potential mode effects. For a short survey on employment, we evaluate the effect of adding one of two new electronic data collection modes to a mailed questionnaire. We sent a survey to principals who previously responded to the National Center for Education Statistics’ (NCES) National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS) asking about their current job status. This questionnaire, known as the Principal Follow-up Survey (PFS), has typically been administered as a short paper form that is mailed to NTPS respondents. In 2022, the PFS introduced two new modes of completion, and principals were randomly assigned to receive: (i) a paper form only; (ii) a paper form, as well as emails with a direct link to complete a web survey; or (iii) a paper form, as well as invitations by text message to complete an automated two-way short message service text survey by responding to texted “yes/no” questions. This article compares overall response rates and time-to-response by mode to determine respondent preferences for completing short surveys. Adding either electronic mode significantly increased response rates and decreased the number of days in which completed surveys were received, compared to offering only a paper questionnaire. Although email and text messages are both forms of electronic communication that may be accessible on a smartphone, the added text message survey resulted in higher response rates than the added web survey. This suggests that respondents interact differently with emails and text messages they receive and that offering an option to complete a survey by text message can increase the speed and efficiency of data collection for short surveys.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Survey Statistics and Methodology, sponsored by AAPOR and the American Statistical Association, began publishing in 2013. Its objective is to publish cutting edge scholarly articles on statistical and methodological issues for sample surveys, censuses, administrative record systems, and other related data. It aims to be the flagship journal for research on survey statistics and methodology. Topics of interest include survey sample design, statistical inference, nonresponse, measurement error, the effects of modes of data collection, paradata and responsive survey design, combining data from multiple sources, record linkage, disclosure limitation, and other issues in survey statistics and methodology. The journal publishes both theoretical and applied papers, provided the theory is motivated by an important applied problem and the applied papers report on research that contributes generalizable knowledge to the field. Review papers are also welcomed. Papers on a broad range of surveys are encouraged, including (but not limited to) surveys concerning business, economics, marketing research, social science, environment, epidemiology, biostatistics and official statistics. The journal has three sections. The Survey Statistics section presents papers on innovative sampling procedures, imputation, weighting, measures of uncertainty, small area inference, new methods of analysis, and other statistical issues related to surveys. The Survey Methodology section presents papers that focus on methodological research, including methodological experiments, methods of data collection and use of paradata. The Applications section contains papers involving innovative applications of methods and providing practical contributions and guidance, and/or significant new findings.