Abstract
The traditional paper based survey has long been used as a means to gather both qualitative and quantitative data. Such surveys can be quick to develop and easy to administer however there are a number of problems that can affect the validity of the results. In particular it can be difficult to obtain a large enough cohort willing to participate in such surveys but more disturbingly that the typical response rate may be low making it difficult to perform worthwhile statistical analysis on the data. An alternative to the paper based survey is the use of an online survey. The online survey has the advantage of reaching a much wider cohort of people and as a result obtaining a significantly higher numbers of responses. Similar to online surveys is the online poll. Rather than replicate a paper based survey in an online environment, a poll presents individual questions to users giving them the flexibility to respond to as many or as few questions as they choose. In comparison to online surveys, by their nature online polls have the ability to survey much larger numbers of respondents but have the disadvantage of being unable to correlate responses. This research used the Doll and Torkzadeh (1988) measure of end user computer satisfaction (EUCS) as the instrument to compare the results obtained when administered as a paper based survey to those results obtained when administered as an online poll. The findings found that online polls do not closely compare to results obtained in a paper based survey when using continuous dependent data.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | AusWeb X |
| Subtitle of host publication | The challenge of integration as the web moves into its second decade |
| Editors | A. Treloar, A. Ellis |
| Place of Publication | Lismore, NSW, Australia |
| Publisher | Norsearch Reprographics |
| Pages | 1-8 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 0975164422 |
| Publication status | Published - 2004 |
| Event | AusWeb X: The challenge of integration as the web moves into its second decade - Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, Australia Duration: 03 Jul 2004 → 07 Jul 2004 |
Conference
| Conference | AusWeb X: The challenge of integration as the web moves into its second decade |
|---|---|
| Country | Australia |
| Period | 03/07/04 → 07/07/04 |
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Cite this
Sefton, P., & Atkinson, J. (2004). Can an online poll be used as a valid alternative to a traditional paper based survey? In A. Treloar, & A. Ellis (Eds.), AusWeb X: The challenge of integration as the web moves into its second decade (pp. 1-8). Norsearch Reprographics.