Randomized testing of alternative survey formats using anonymous volunteers on the World Wide Web.

Consenting visitors to a health survey Web site were randomly assigned to a "matrix" presentation or an "expanded" presentation of survey response options. Among 4,208 visitors to the site over 3 months, 1,615 (38 percent) participated by giving consent and completing the survey. During a pre-trial period, when consent was not required, 914 of 1,667 visitors (55 percent) participated (odds ratio 1.9, P<0.0001). Mean response times were 5.07 minutes for the matrix format and 5.22 minutes for the expanded format (P=0.16). Neither health status scores nor alpha reliability coefficients were substantially influenced by the survey format, but health status scores varied with age and gender as expected from U.S. population norms. In conclusion, presenting response options in a matrix format may not substantially speed survey completion. This study demonstrates a method for rapidly evaluating interface design alternatives using anonymous Web volunteers who have provided informed consent.

[1]  L. Cronbach.  Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests , 1951 .

[2]  D. Commerce.  Statistical abstract of the United States , 1978 .

[3]  C. McHorney,et al.  Comparisons of the Costs and Quality of Norms for the SF-36 Health Survey Collected by Mail Versus Telephone Interview: Results From a National Survey , 1994, Medical care.

[4]  C E Kahn,et al.  Health status assessment via the World Wide Web. , 1996, Proceedings : a conference of the American Medical Informatics Association. AMIA Fall Symposium.

[5]  R. Soetikno,et al.  Studying ulcerative colitis over the World Wide Web. , 1997, The American journal of gastroenterology.

[6]  R. Soetikno,et al.  Quality-of-life research on the Internet: feasibility and potential biases in patients with ulcerative colitis. , 1997, Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA.

[7]  G Eysenbach,et al.  Epidemiological data can be gathered with world wide web , 1998, BMJ.

[8]  M. Verhoef,et al.  Complementary and alternative medicine use by patients with inflammatory bowel disease: An Internet survey. , 1999, Canadian journal of gastroenterology = Journal canadien de gastroenterologie.

[9]  L A Lenert,et al.  Use of meta-analytic results to facilitate shared decision making. , 1999, Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA.

[10]  Jeremy C. Wyatt,et al.  When to Use Web-based Surveys , 2000, J. Am. Medical Informatics Assoc..

[11]  Titus Schleyer,et al.  Research Paper: Methods for the Design and Administration of Web-based Surveys , 2000, J. Am. Medical Informatics Assoc..

[12]  S. Dufour.  I: Commerce , 2001, Canadian Yearbook of international Law/Annuaire canadien de droit international.

[13]  J. Ware.  SF-36 health survey: Manual and interpretation guide , 2003 .