What difference doguidelines make? An observational study of online-questionnaire design guidelines put to practical use

Jo Lumsden; Scott Flinn; Michelle Anderson; Wendy Morgan

doi:10.1007/1-84628-249-7_5

What difference doguidelines make? An observational study of online-questionnaire design guidelines put to practical use

Jo Lumsden, Scott Flinn, Michelle Anderson, Wendy Morgan

Computer Science Research Group

Research output: Chapter in Book/Published conference output › Conference publication

Abstract

As a new medium for questionnaire delivery, the Internet has the potential to revolutionize the survey process. Online-questionnaires can provide many capabilities not found in traditional paper-based questionnaires. Despite this, and the introduction of a plethora of tools to support online-questionnaire creation, current electronic survey design typically replicates the look-and-feel of paper-based questionnaires, thus failing to harness the full power of the electronic delivery medium. A recent environmental scan of online-questionnaire design tools found that little, if any, support is incorporated within these tools to guide questionnaire designers according to best-practice [Lumsden & Morgan 2005]. This paper briefly introduces a comprehensive set of guidelines for the design of online-questionnaires. Drawn from relevant disparate sources, all the guidelines incorporated within the set are proven in their own right; as an initial assessment of the value of the set of guidelines as a practical reference guide, we undertook an informal study to observe the effect of introducing the guidelines into the design process for a complex online-questionnaire. The paper discusses the qualitative findings — which are encouraging for the role of the guidelines in the ‘bigger picture’ of online survey delivery across many domains such as e-government, e-business, and e-health — of this case study.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	People and computers XIX — the bigger picture
Subtitle of host publication	proceedings of HCI 2005
Editors	Tom McEwan, Jan Gulliksen, David Benyon
Place of Publication	London (UK)
Publisher	Springer
Pages	69-83
Number of pages	15
ISBN (Electronic)	978-1-84628-249-2
ISBN (Print)	978-1-84628-192-1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/1-84628-249-7_5
Publication status	Published - 2006
Event	19th Annual Conference of the British Human-Computer Interaction Group - Edinburgh, United Kingdom Duration: 5 Sept 2005 → 9 Sept 2005

Conference

Conference	19th Annual Conference of the British Human-Computer Interaction Group
Abbreviated title	HCI 2005
Country/Territory	United Kingdom
City	Edinburgh
Period	5/09/05 → 9/09/05

Keywords

online-questionnaire
design guidelines
evaluative case study

Access to Document

10.1007/1-84628-249-7_5

Cite this

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title = "What difference doguidelines make? An observational study of online-questionnaire design guidelines put to practical use",

abstract = "As a new medium for questionnaire delivery, the Internet has the potential to revolutionize the survey process. Online-questionnaires can provide many capabilities not found in traditional paper-based questionnaires. Despite this, and the introduction of a plethora of tools to support online-questionnaire creation, current electronic survey design typically replicates the look-and-feel of paper-based questionnaires, thus failing to harness the full power of the electronic delivery medium. A recent environmental scan of online-questionnaire design tools found that little, if any, support is incorporated within these tools to guide questionnaire designers according to best-practice [Lumsden & Morgan 2005]. This paper briefly introduces a comprehensive set of guidelines for the design of online-questionnaires. Drawn from relevant disparate sources, all the guidelines incorporated within the set are proven in their own right; as an initial assessment of the value of the set of guidelines as a practical reference guide, we undertook an informal study to observe the effect of introducing the guidelines into the design process for a complex online-questionnaire. The paper discusses the qualitative findings — which are encouraging for the role of the guidelines in the {\textquoteleft}bigger picture{\textquoteright} of online survey delivery across many domains such as e-government, e-business, and e-health — of this case study.",

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Lumsden, J, Flinn, S, Anderson, M & Morgan, W 2006, What difference doguidelines make? An observational study of online-questionnaire design guidelines put to practical use. in T McEwan, J Gulliksen & D Benyon (eds), People and computers XIX — the bigger picture: proceedings of HCI 2005. Springer, London (UK), pp. 69-83, 19th Annual Conference of the British Human-Computer Interaction Group, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, 5/09/05. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-84628-249-7_5

What difference doguidelines make? An observational study of online-questionnaire design guidelines put to practical use. / Lumsden, Jo; Flinn, Scott; Anderson, Michelle et al.
People and computers XIX — the bigger picture: proceedings of HCI 2005. ed. / Tom McEwan; Jan Gulliksen; David Benyon. London (UK): Springer, 2006. p. 69-83.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Published conference output › Conference publication

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AB - As a new medium for questionnaire delivery, the Internet has the potential to revolutionize the survey process. Online-questionnaires can provide many capabilities not found in traditional paper-based questionnaires. Despite this, and the introduction of a plethora of tools to support online-questionnaire creation, current electronic survey design typically replicates the look-and-feel of paper-based questionnaires, thus failing to harness the full power of the electronic delivery medium. A recent environmental scan of online-questionnaire design tools found that little, if any, support is incorporated within these tools to guide questionnaire designers according to best-practice [Lumsden & Morgan 2005]. This paper briefly introduces a comprehensive set of guidelines for the design of online-questionnaires. Drawn from relevant disparate sources, all the guidelines incorporated within the set are proven in their own right; as an initial assessment of the value of the set of guidelines as a practical reference guide, we undertook an informal study to observe the effect of introducing the guidelines into the design process for a complex online-questionnaire. The paper discusses the qualitative findings — which are encouraging for the role of the guidelines in the ‘bigger picture’ of online survey delivery across many domains such as e-government, e-business, and e-health — of this case study.

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ER -

What difference doguidelines make? An observational study of online-questionnaire design guidelines put to practical use

Abstract

Conference

Keywords

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