Online data collections in the form of web-based surveys and related methods are the new wave in social research. For many research applications, particularly those that were traditionally conducted with paper and pencil instruments, the Internet provides a venue for obtaining large samples of data both rapidly and inexpensively.

Many questions remain, however. Are data collected from web-based surveys as good as those collected through more traditional means? With all of the issues related to sample frame coverage, instrument design, and response rates, how can researchers make sure that their data are useful, accurate, generalizable, and publishable? The situation for many researchers is that there is a limited research budget and this budget must be spent in a way that ensures the largest amount of high quality data.

StudyResponse director Jeffrey Stanton, Ph.D. has used the information from more than 135 web-based studies together with the literature on survey design and sampling to address these questions. The StudyResponse roadshow is an interactive seminar that can be delivered at your department or school to help researchers obtain the best possible results from online data collection. The roadshow also describes the most cost effective ways of using StudyResponse to obtain online research data rapidly and with high quality results. The roadshow is modular: You can combine any subset of these 45 minute topics to create a custom seminar lasting up to one full day:

• Web-based survey design I: How to build - on the cheap - an instrument that participants will like and use

• Web-based survey design II: Hosting and developing a survey yourself - all of the terms and techniques you need in order to work with web designers and IT people

• Sample Design and Development: Translating your research questions and analysis plan into an online sample of a size and quality that you can afford

• Obtaining High Response Rates: Getting the highest possible number of individuals in your sample to respond without breaking the bank on participant incentives

• Reducing survey length: Published and proven techniques for reducing the length of multi-item scales without contaminating validity relationships

• Using StudyResponse Effectively: How to translate your sampling needs and goals into the best, most cost-effective plan for using StudyResponse

• Online Research Ethics: Strategies for maintaining anonymity and confidentiality of online research participants; working with your human subjects board 

• Data Cleaning, Screening, and Analysis: How to detect and counteract inadvertent multiple response, malicious response, and other online data problems

• Publishing with Online Data: Proactive design and procedural recommendations to avoid pitfalls with reviewers and editors

Instructor Biography:

Jeffrey Stanton, Ph.D. (University of Connecticut, 1997) is an associate professor in the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University. Dr. Stanton’s research focuses on the intersection of organizational behavior and technology; he has published more than 50 journal articles and book chapters on this and related topics. Stanton is an expert psychometrician with articles on the measurement of job satisfaction and job stress, as well as research on creating abridged versions of scales and conducting survey research on the Internet. His work has been published in several behavioral science journals, such as the Journal of Applied Psychology, Personnel Psychology, Human Performance, and Organizational Research Methods. Stanton is an associate editor of Human Resource Management Journal and the Journal of Information Systems Security and is an editorial board member at Organizational Research Methods and the Journal of Information Systems Education. His research has been supported through ten different grants and awards including the National Science Foundation’s prestigious CAREER award.

Seminar details:

The StudyResponse roadshow is delivered in 45 minute instructional modules that allow for a subsequent interactive exercise or question and answer period of about 15 minutes. Departments and schools can choose any subset of the modules for delivery to one or more groups of faculty and student participants. Workshop participants can obtain future discounts on StudyResponse services as well as handouts and documentation pertaining to the seminar. Contact jmstanto[at]syr.edu for details and scheduling.