Abstract
Web-based data collection has considerable appeal. However, the quality of data collected using such instruments is often questionable. There can be systematic problems with the wording of the surveys, and/or the means with which they are deployed. In unsupervised data collection, there are also concerns about whether subjects understand the questions, and wehther they are answering honestly. This paper presents a schema for using client-side timestamps and traces of subjects' paths through instruments to detect problems with the definition of instruments and their deployment. We discuss two large, anonymous, web-based, medical surveys as examples of the utility of this approach.
Full text
PDF![894](https://cdn.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/blobs/11cd/2244342/b72cf9f0b14e/procamiasymp00001-0935.png)
![895](https://cdn.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/blobs/11cd/2244342/a64ef519b025/procamiasymp00001-0936.png)
![896](https://cdn.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/blobs/11cd/2244342/b83e3eaab72f/procamiasymp00001-0937.png)
![897](https://cdn.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/blobs/11cd/2244342/eaef0a094627/procamiasymp00001-0938.png)
![898](https://cdn.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/blobs/11cd/2244342/afc9f1d3a8db/procamiasymp00001-0939.png)
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Bell D. S., Mangione C. M., Kahn C. E., Jr Randomized testing of alternative survey formats using anonymous volunteers on the World Wide Web. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2001 Nov-Dec;8(6):616–620. doi: 10.1136/jamia.2001.0080616. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Couper M. P. Web survey design and administration. Public Opin Q. 2001 Summer;65(2):230–253. doi: 10.1086/322199. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Couper M. Web surveys: a review of issues and approaches. Public Opin Q. 2000 Winter;64(4):464–494. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Hickman S. E., Howieson D. B., Dame A., Sexton G., Kaye J. Longitudinal analysis of the effects of the aging process on neuropsychological test performance in the healthy young-old and oldest-old. Dev Neuropsychol. 2000;17(3):323–337. doi: 10.1207/S15326942DN1703_3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Horne J. A., Ostberg O. A self-assessment questionnaire to determine morningness-eveningness in human circadian rhythms. Int J Chronobiol. 1976;4(2):97–110. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Pettit Frances Annie. A comparison of World-Wide Web and paper-and-pencil personality questionnaires. Behav Res Methods Instrum Comput. 2002 Feb;34(1):50–54. doi: 10.3758/bf03195423. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Schleyer T. K., Forrest J. L. Methods for the design and administration of web-based surveys. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2000 Jul-Aug;7(4):416–425. doi: 10.1136/jamia.2000.0070416. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- White T. M., Hauan M. J. The capture and use of detailed process information in the Dialogix system for structured web-based interactions. Proc AMIA Symp. 2001:761–765. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Wyatt J. Same information, different decisions: format counts. Format as well as content matters in clinical information. BMJ. 1999 Jun 5;318(7197):1501–1502. doi: 10.1136/bmj.318.7197.1501. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]