Title       : Cognitive Issues in the Design of Web Surveys
Type        : Award
NSF Org     : SES 
Latest
Amendment
Date        : July 17,  2000      
File        : a9910882

Award Number: 9910882
Award Instr.: Standard Grant                               
Prgm Manager: Cheryl L. Eavey                         
	      SES  DIVN OF SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC SCIENCES    
	      SBE  DIRECT FOR SOCIAL, BEHAV & ECONOMIC SCIE
Start Date  : September 15,  1999 
Expires     : August 31,  2002     (Estimated)
Expected
Total Amt.  : $16016              (Estimated)
Investigator: Mick P. Couper mcouper@umich.edu  (Principal Investigator current)
Sponsor     : University of Michigan
	      3003 S State St. RM 1062
	      Ann Arbor, MI  481091274    734/764-1817

NSF Program : 1333      METHOD, MEASURE & STATS
Fld Applictn: 0116000   Human Subjects                          
Program Ref : 0000,OTHR,
Abstract    :

     The development of new methods for collecting survey data, including Web
     surveys, may be ushering in a golden age for self-administered surveys.  The
     new methods of data collection appear to offer the power and complexity of
     computerization combined with the privacy of self-administration.  At the same
     time, because they do not require an interviewer, they may reduce other types
     of survey error and could dramatically lower the costs of conducting surveys.
     Still, there is mounting evidence that different methods of self administration
     can produce different results; these differences across methods of self
     administration seem to reflect apparently incidental features of the interface
     between the respondent and the electronic questionnaire.  This collaborative
     research with Tourangeau (SES-9907395) tests a theory to explain these effects
     of the interface.  The key concept in the theory is that of social presence. To
     the extent that the method of data collection, its setting, or the interface
     gives the respondent a sense of interacting with another person, it will
     trigger motivations similar to those triggered by an interviewer.  These
     motivations include the desire to avoid embarrassing oneself or giving offense
     to someone else, as well as enhanced motivation to complete the interview.  The
     Web offer ample resources for attracting the interest of the respondent (color,
     animated images), but even apparently innocuous characteristics of the
     interface can create a sense of social presence, producing social desirability
     and related response effects.

     This experiment will attempt to identify
     the features of the interface with a Web survey that create a virtual social
     presence.  A sample of respondents will be recruited by telephone to complete a
     Web survey.  The experiment will vary whether or not the electronic questioner
     is identified by name ("Hi! I'm John") and whether or not it offers explicit
     reminders of prior answers.  The results of this first experiment may suggest
     follow-up experiments to be carried out if the budget permits.  The main
     hypothesis to be tested in any follow-up studies is that the more the interface
     creates a sense of social presence, the more respondents will act as if they
     are interacting with another human being.  This research is supported by the
     Methodology, Measurement, and Statistics Program and a consortium of federal
     statistical agencies under the Research on Survey Methodology Funding
     Opportunity.