Can Student Populations in Developing Countries Be Reached by Online Surveys? The Case of the National Service Scheme Survey (N3S) in Ghana

Abstract

This article tackles the question whether it is a viable strategy to conduct online surveys among university students in developing countries. By documenting the methodology of the National Service Scheme Survey conducted in Ghana, we set out to answer three questions: (1) How can a sample of university students be obtained? (2) How can students be motivated to cooperate in online surveys? (3) What kind of devices do students use for completing an online survey? Our results indicate that online strategies can be very useful to reach this particular target group, if the necessary precautions are taken.

Ethical challenges in the COVID-19 research context: a toolkit for supporting analysis and resolution

“…In addition to the usual ethical conflicts over the use of placebos and work with control groups, physical distancing measures may affect the recruitment of the sample in turn impacting data validity and reliability of the collection process; and time constraints may prevent follow-up measurement to validate the results (Angus, 2020;McDermott & Newman, 2020). This is especially salient when questionnaires or interviews are conducted by telephone or internet, which requires researchers to consider whether those without internet connection are being excluded from research and how this sampling bias may affect the internal and external validity of the results (Ross et al, 2005), especially in the countries with unequal access to internet (Langer et al, 2017).…”

Service to the Nation: Prospective Participants’ Engagement With National Service in Ghana

“…To test our hypotheses, we use data from the National Survey Scheme Survey (N3S; Langer, Meuleman, Oshodi, & Schroyens, 2017). The N3S is a large-scale survey among bachelor’s students (and thus prospective NSS participants) from three of the largest public universities in Ghana: University of Ghana (UG) in Legon, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi, and University for Development Studies (UDS) with campuses in Tamale, Wa, and Navrongo.…”

“…In addition, respondents from university of Ghana were most likely to participate. Response rates were slightly lower at the other two universities (for a detailed analysis of response rates in the N3S, see Langer et al, 2017). The survey completion rate was 90.3% (2,947 complete responses/3,264 started surveys).…”

Can Incentive Effects in Web Surveys Be Generalized to Non-Western Countries? Conditional and Unconditional Cash Incentives in a Web Survey of Ghanaian University Students

“…The N3S surveys prospective participants in Ghana's National Service Scheme (NSS; Langer et al, 2016). The NSS is a compulsory national service program, which requires all Ghanaian students who obtain a bachelor degree to complete 1 year of national social service, usually outside their area of origin.…”

“…The present study contributes to this field by analyzing an incentives experiment implemented in the National Service Scheme Survey (N3S; Langer, Meuleman, Oshodi & Schroyens, 2016), a web survey conducted in August 2014 among 4,440 Ghanaian university students who were offered conditional and unconditional incentives of different values. The incentives were quasi-cash, in the form of top-up credits for mobile phones, a typical means of transferring small amounts of money in Ghana.…”