An experimental evaluation of response bias and respondent preference for a computerized survey as compared to a paper and pencil survey

摘要

Computerized surveys offer important cost and time efficiencies for conducting research. The primary question concerning their use, however, involves the introduction of potential response effects and negative reception by respondents. To test for possible response effects, randomly assigned respondents completed a survey (concerning survey method preferences) using either a paper-and-pencil method or a computerized method. The study found little or no response bias effects involving the survey method. Furthermore, respondents overwhelmingly preferred using the computerized survey over the paper-and-pencil survey.