Data Quality in PC and Mobile Web Surveys

Social Science Computer Review. 2013. Vol. 31. No. 6. P. 725–743.

Mavletova A. M.

The considerable growth in the number of smart mobile devices with a fast Internet connection provides new challenges for survey researchers. In this article, I compare the data quality between two survey modes: self-administered web surveys conducted via personal computer and those conducted via mobile phones. Data quality is compared based on five indicators: (a) completion rates, (b) response order effects, (c) social desirability, (d) non-substantive responses, and (e) length of open answers. I hypothesized that mobile web surveys would result in lower completion rates, stronger response order effects, and less elaborate answers to open-ended questions. No difference was expected in the level of reporting in sensitive items and in the rate of non-substantive responses. To test the assumptions, an experiment with two survey modes was conducted using a volunteer online access panel in Russia. As expected, mobile web was associated with a lower completion rate, shorter length of open answers, and similar level of socially undesirable and non-substantive responses. However, no stronger primacy effects in mobile web survey mode were found.

Keywords: социальная желательность, открытые вопросы, качество данных, веб-опросы, мобильные веб-опросы, social desirability, web surveys, mobile web surveys, data quality, completion rates, response order effects, primacy effects, non-substantive responses, length of open-ended questions, уровень откликов, влияние порядка представления ответов, уклонение от ответов