Online versus Paper - Format effects in tourism surveys
Journal
Journal of Travel Research
ISSN
0047-2875
ISSN-Digital
1552-6763
Type
journal article
Date Issued
2009-02-01
Author(s)
Abstract
The popularity of online surveys is rising. Prior work assessing online survey biases have led to some findings which replicate across contexts, while others vary significantly depending on the topic and cannot be generalized to apply to tourism surveys. This study aims to compare online versus mail surveys in the tourism context. Results suggest that (1) deviations from the population in terms of socio-demographics is different in nature but similar in extent for both samples, (2) no differences exist in the contamination of data by response styles, (3) online respondents have a lower drop-out rate and produce less missing data, and (4) responses to tourism-related questions significantly differ, indicating that survey format can dramatically influence results of empirical studies in tourism. A multi-mode approach is proposed.
Language
English
Keywords
survey research
online survey
mail survey
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Refereed
Yes
Publisher
Sage
Publisher place
Thousand Oaks, CA
Volume
47
Number
3
Start page
295
End page
316
Pages
22
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
45790