Digital Surveys

Digital surveys are research tools that ask consumers questions in a virtual environment.

Learning Objective

Describe the characteristics of digital surveys from a market research point of view

Key Points

With the increasing use of the Internet, online questionnaires have become a popular way to collect information.
Online Research Methods include: ethnography, focus groups, interviews, web-based experiments and clinical trials.
The advantages of digital surveys include: questions can be displayed in different ways, data can be received immediately, collection is more cost-effective than traditional methods, and adapting surveys is quick and affordable.
The disadvantages of digital surveys include: response rates are limited to people who can access the web, many people dislike completing questionnaires online, and people who respond to online questionnaire invitations tend to be younger.

Terms

Focus Group
A group of people, sampled from a larger population, interviewed in open session for market research or political analysis.
Online Research Method
A way in which researchers can collect data via the Internet. This is also referred to as Internet research.
ethnography
The branch of anthropology that scientifically describes specific human cultures and societies.

Example

An example of a digital survey is a ten minute survey that would typically be written for in person use, but has been adapted to be more streamlined and web-friendly. By asking what people think of a movie trailer immediately after the trailer is released, digital surveys can conduct market research in real-time.

Full Text

Digital surveys, also referred to as online questionnaires, are research tools that ask consumers questions in a virtual environment. These surveys are a type of Online Research Method (ORM). Many of these ORMs are related to older research methodologies that have been re-invented and re-imagined to work with new technologies and the on-the-go conditions of a digital environment.

With the increasing use of the Internet, online questionnaires have become a popular way of collecting information. However, the online research field remains relatively new and continues to evolve. With the growth of social media, new levels of complexity and opportunity have been created for using digital surveys to conduct market research.

Other Online Research Methods for Surveying Consumers

Online Ethnography
Online Focus Group
Online Interview
Web-based Experiments
Online Clinical Trials

Advantages of Digital Surveys

The administrator has greater flexibility in displaying questions. Questions can be displayed with check boxes, pull down menus, pop up menus, help screens, or submenus
An online forum allows responses to be received from more subjects and from anywhere in the world .
This method is also cheaper to use, because there are fewer costs incurred from buying paper, printing materials or paying postage.
Since data is collected into a central database, the time for analysis is substantially reduced.
It is easier to correct errors on an online questionnaire, since the administrator does not have to reprint and redistribute all the questionnaires.

Disadvantages of Digital Surveys

Not everyone has access to the Internet, so the response rate is limited.
Many people are not receptive to completing questionnaires online.
Studies indicate that the demographic that responds to online questionnaire invitations are generally younger people.

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