Conditional Branching in Computerized Self-Administered Questionnaires: An Empirical Study

Conditional branching is used in surveys to direct respondents to skip inappropriate questions or to answer additional follow-up questions. When surveys are implemented on the World Wide Web, conditional branching can be automated in different ways. This study compares three implementations: (a) a manual form which replicates the paper-and-pencil version in a scrollable browser window, (b) a semi-automatic form which also shows the whole survey but auto-scrolls to the next appropriate question, and (c) an automatic form that displays only one item per screen and implements all branching. The surveys used for the study involved follow-ups of one, two, or three questions. The three implementations were counterbalanced in a within-subjects design. As expected it was found that completion times increased with the number of follow-up questions. More importantly, the automatic item-by-item implementation proved significantly faster than either the manual or the auto-scrolling versions. Respondents found the auto-scrolling to be disorienting. These results suggest that automatic branching should be used but with graceful jumps that guide the respondents’ focus of attention without loosing it.