oa Dataverzameling via internet: een update

Web-based data collection: an update

Toon Taris, Paul Schreurs & Kees Jan Sepmeijer, Gedrag & Organisatie, Volume 18, June 2005, nr. 3, pp. 181-195

The rapid increase in the number of internet users has given web-based surveys the potential to become a powerful tool in survey research. The present study discusses the pros and cons of this technique for gathering data. Pros include speed, cost effectiveness and exclusion of interviewer and data entry errors; cons include low response rates, selective response, and possible problems with data quality. As an illustration we present the results of a study among well over 45,000 Dutch home care employees, showing that men, higher educated and younger employees were more likely to respond through the internet than others. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that whereas the factor structures of selected work-related concepts were similar for respondents who used the internet vs. other respondents, their average scores differed strongly. Implications of these findings on data collection practices in social, work and organizational psychology are discussed.