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

1. Parents of children with autism (N 520)
2. Parents of children with either autism (n
   212) or Down syndrome (n 68)
3. 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