Comparison of the Differences Between Web-Based and Traditional Questionnaire Surveys in Pediatrics: Comparative Survey Study (Preprint)

Abstract

BACKGROUND The web-based survey is a novel method for data capture. Some studies have applied web-based survey in pediatrics, but few of them have reported the data on the differences between it and traditional questionnaire surveys. OBJECTIVE The objective of our study was to evaluate the internal consistency of web-based survey and to compare it with traditional questionnaire survey in pediatrics. METHODS A convenience sample of caregivers were invited to participate in the survey on the feeding patterns and their children’s eating behavior if their children were aged 2 to 7 years. A web-based survey and a traditional questionnaire survey were carried out between October 2018 and July 2019. A total of 1085 caregivers were involved in this study, and they were divided into 3 groups based on the methods and sources: (1) web-based survey from web source, (1) web-based survey from hospital source, (3) traditional questionnaire survey from hospital source. The data were then compared and analyzed. RESULTS A total of 735 caregivers participated in the web-based survey and 350 caregivers participated in the traditional questionnaire survey, and 816 cases were then included in the analyses after data processing. The effective rate of the web-based survey was 70.1% and the completeness rate of the traditional questionnaire survey was 86.0%. The data showed that there were no significant differences between web-based surveys from different sources. But the demographic characteristics between the web-based and traditional questionnaire surveys were significantly different, mainly in age and caregivers (P=.002 and P<.001). Age-specific stratified analysis then showed the scores of feeding patterns and reporting rates of eating behavior problems were significantly higher in the web-based survey compared to the traditional questionnaire survey, mainly in the younger age group after adjusting for demographic characteristics. CONCLUSIONS Taken together, our study demonstrated that web-based survey could be a feasible tool in pediatric studies. However, differences in demographic characteristics and their possible impact on the results should be considered in the analyses.