Web-based questionnaires and questionnaires are a vital epidemiologic technique that provide crucial information about the state of public health and illness. These are common methods of collecting data that are generally cheaper and less time-consuming than face-toface interviews, mail-in questionnaires, or automated telephone menu systems. However, questionnaires and Web experiments have a number of limitations that should be addressed to ensure valid and reliable results.
A questionnaire can be influenced by response bias, the tendency of respondents to answer questions based on their personal opinions rather than according to research goals. Additionally, questionnaire design can influence responses in different ways: for example the wording of the question can affect the way respondents interpret and understand the questions in the same way (reliable) or whether you can determine what you’re interested in (valid), or are able to answer accurately (credible).
Respondents might also experience survey fatigue or lack of interest in the questions asked, which reduces the likelihood of them offering honest answers. In addition, the absence of incentives or compensation can discourage respondents from taking the time to complete the questionnaire.
Online questionnaires can also pose a challenge for some experiments, like positioning or reaction-time studies. It is challenging to control and measure variables across participants due to the variations in browser settings as well as operating systems and screen sizes.
In addition, Web-based surveys are only available to those who have keyboards and are Internet proficient, which isn’t a large portion of the population. It’s also difficult for Web researchers to report on participants after the window for their experiment has ended.