The Electronic Survey Technique: An Integration and Assessment

Even though e-mail is the most widely used computer-mediated communication medium, its considerable potential as a survey technique has received little attention from management scholars. Using a three-dimensional framework focused on sampling issues, nonsampling errors, and comparative performance, the authors review and integrate previous research on the electronic survey technique and provide an assessment of the comparative trade-offs vis-à-vis other techniques. Moreover, they provide recommendations for future researchers interested in using this approach. Finally, they conclude that although this approach poses unique challenges and drawbacks, when an unbiased sampling frame exists or can be constructed, it allows researchers to inexpensively gather data with less effort than other available approaches.