Using Internet Surveys for Research

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Using Internet Surveys for Research

• Barbara J. Myers
• Department of Psychology

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Why do we use Internet surveys?

• Rare populations
• Hard-to-find populations
• Populations that cannot come to you

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Why do we use Internet surveys?

• Convenient for participants
• Low-costNo paper, no postage
• Data entry is automatic

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Other researchers could target participants . . .

• When you have their e-mailssend the announcement
  straight to them
• Participants who do not show up for appointments
  to take surveys
• Participants who are on the internet in the
  middle of the night

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Our 3 studies using internet surveys

• Parents of children with autism (N 520)
• Parents of children with either autism (n
  212) or Down syndrome (n 68)
• Parents from India, now living outside India,
  with children with autism (n 27)

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Recruitment of our samples

• E-mail contact with organizations that these
  parents use
• Autism Society of America
• Every state, county, city chapter
• Asked them to place a notice in their newsletters
  or link on their webpage
• Over 220 organizations contacted

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Creating the questionnaires

• Inquisite program
• Get the CD and install it on your computer
• Inquisite walks you through formatting of survey

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Our questions

• Button-type answers
• Short-answer fill-in (e.g., other medications not
  already listed?)
• Some questions branched
• Open-ended questions had room for essay-length
  qualitative answers
• We asked TONS of questions

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Explaining purpose of study to participants

• Entry page stated purpose of the survey
• Told them who we were, our contact info
• That this was research
• Estimated time to take survey
• That they were free to not take part
• That submitting their answers constituted
  granting CONSENT to be in study

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Protecting confidentiality

• We collected no identifying information
• No names, addresses, birthdates, emails
• No information on where they saw notice about
  study
• We dont know who they are and will never contact
  them again

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Accessing our data

• First stored in Inquisite file, with password
  protection
• Inquisite transforms data to SPSS or ACCESS
• Stored these datasets on office computers
• (Inquisite writes little reports that are useless)

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Do we get publishable research?

• Data from 1st study7 papers published or in
  press
• Goin-Kochel, R.P., Mackintosh, V.H., Myers,
  B.J. (in pressaccepted 11-24-2008). Parental
  reports on the efficacy of treatments and
  therapies for their children with autism spectrum
  disorders. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders.
• Myers, B.J., Mackintosh, V.H., Goin-Kochel,
  R.P. (in pressaccepted 09-09-2008). My greatest
  joy and my greatest heart ache Parents own
  words on how having a child in the autism
  spectrum has affected their lives and their
  families lives. Research in Autism Spectrum
  Disorders.
• Goin-Kochel, R. P., Mackintosh, V.H., Myers,
  B.J. (2007). Parental reports on the use of
  treatments and therapies for children with autism
  spectrum disorders. Research in Autism Spectrum
  Disorders, 1, 195-209.
• Mackintosh, V.H., Goin-Kochel, R.P., Myers,
  B.J. (2006). Sources of Information and Support
  Used by Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum
  Disorders. Journal on Developmental Disabilities,
  12 (1), 41-51.
• Goin-Kochel, R.P., Mackintosh, V.H., Myers,
  B.J. (2006). How Many Doctors Does It Take to
  Make an Autism-Spectrum Diagnosis? Autism, 10
  (5), 439-451.
• Goin-Kochel, R.P. Myers, B.J. (2005). The
  congenital vs. regressive onset of autism and
  parents beliefs about causes. Focus on Autism
  and Other Developmental Disabilities, 20 (3),
  169-179.
• Goin-Kochel, R.P. Myers, B.J. (2005). Parental
  report of early autistic symptoms Differences in
  ages of detection and frequencies of
  characteristics among three autism-spectrum
  disorders. Journal on Developmental Disabilities,
  11(2), 21-39.
• Other two studiesmanuscripts in progress

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Budget for these 3 studies?

• Zero
• Zero
• Zero

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Drawbacks

• Sample is limited to people who own computers and
  use internet
• Fewer participants of low income
• Fewer minority families
• Fewer participants with low education
• Potential for junk responses

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Advantages of internet surveys

• Ability to locate rare populations
• Ease of data collectionautomatic
• Convenient for participants
• Ability to collect an abundance of data
• Scientific journals publish the work
• Low budget, no budget, sustainable research