Online surveys have the following disadvantages:
- In online surveys, it is problematic to judge the representativeness (representativeness) of the sample;
- The questionnaire has to be small in size;
- There is a need to take into account respondents’ perception of the demonstration material. It varies depending on the characteristics of monitors and browsers of different users;
- the emergence of technical problems affecting the ability to implement surveys is not excluded. These include communication quality, limited computer resources for some users, and provider failures;
- it is often very problematic to verify the correspondence of respondents’ answers to the truth. And if you are interested in the online survey service, go to how to get more votes.
Now let’s look at the merits of online surveys.
1. Comfortable psychological state of respondents. When you have traditional (offline) surveys, people are sometimes afraid to give answers, to fill out forms, to «give out» data. They are not always able to perceive the information adequately. During Internet surveys people are more compliant (this may be connected, for example, with their being in a familiar environment during the survey).
2. The ability to answer the questionnaire at any time. Some people find it problematic to be distracted from their business. If the survey is conducted online, they can answer questions at their convenience. Also, with internet surveys it is possible to adapt the number of questions to the respondent.
3. The possibility of individual feedback directly after filling out the questionnaire. This gives an incentive to respondents to participate in internet surveys on an ongoing basis. If they feel that they matter, it is much easier for them to recognize the importance of the surveys being conducted. And so some of them will not only take part in them themselves, but also involve other people.
4. the respondent’s lack of negative feelings. One does not have feelings of coercion, awkwardness, embarrassment, or nervousness. Such feelings can often be present in traditional surveys where the interviewer is directly talking to the person being interviewed. Not every interviewer manages to get people to like him and evoke only positive feelings. On the Internet, this problem is virtually non-existent.
5. Getting more candid answers. There are sensitive and delicate topics on which you do not want to give answers directly to people. If an Internet survey is conducted and anonymity of respondents is guaranteed, the latter appear to be more open and frank.
6. Truthfulness of answers. When a traditional survey is conducted, many people tend to give socially approved answers. On the Internet, however, respondents are able to formulate more detailed and detailed honest answers. As a result, the information they provide is more complete and of higher quality.
7. Wider sample compared to traditional surveys. This means that the results can be generalized more confidently on the Internet. Sometimes it happens that only through the Internet it is possible to get the required number of respondents according to the sampling rules. It is also easier to find specific groups of respondents.
