Questionnaires and web experiments are an essential method of epidemiology, providing important information about the state of public health and disease. They are a popular method of collecting data that is usually less expensive and time-consuming than face-toface interviews, mail-in questionnaires or automated telephone menu systems. However questionnaires, surveys and Web experiments are not without limitations that must be addressed to ensure that they are reliable and valid results.
A questionnaire may be affected by response bias. This is the tendency for respondents to answer questions based on their opinions rather than the research objectives. Furthermore, the design of a questionnaire can influence responses in a variety of ways: for example the wording of the question can affect whether respondents understand and interpret the question in the same manner (reliable) or whether you can determine what you’re looking for (valid) or are able to answer accurately (credible).
Survey fatigue or a lack engagement with the questions can also cause respondents to be less inclined to give honest answers. A lack of incentives or compensation may also deter respondents from filling out the questionnaire.
Online questionnaires can also pose difficult for certain research designs, like studies of reaction time or position. It is challenging to measure and control variables across participants due to the variations in browser settings operating systems, browser settings, and sizes of screens.
Finally, Web-based surveys are only available to those who have keyboards and are Internet literate, which currently isn’t a large portion of the population. In addition, it is generally difficult to Web researchers to provide feedback to participants after the experiment’s time-out.
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