What Difference Do Guidelines Make? An Observational Study of Online-questionnaire Design Guidelines Put to Practical Use

Abstract

As a new medium for questionnaire delivery, the internet has the potential to revolutionise the survey process. Online-questionnaires can provide many capabilities not found in traditional paper-based questionnaires. Despite this, and the introduction of a plethora of tools to support online-questionnaire creation, current electronic survey design typically replicates the look-and-feel of paper-based questionnaires, thus failing to harness the full power of the electronic delivery medium. A recent environmental scan of online-questionnaire design tools found that little, if any, support is incorporated within these tools to guide questionnaire designers according to best-practice (Lumsden and Morgan, 2005). This paper briefly introduces a comprehensive set of guidelines for the design of online-questionnaires. Drawn from relevant disparate sources, all the guidelines incorporated within the set are proven in their own right; as an initial assessment of the value of the set of guidelines as a practical reference guide, we undertook an informal study to observe the effect of introducing the guidelines into the design process for a complex online-questionnaire. The paper discusses the qualitative findings -which are encouraging for the role of the guidelines in the 'bigger picture' of online survey delivery across many domains such as eGovernment, e-Business, and e-Health -of this case study.

Current practices of physiotherapists in Switzerland regarding fall risk-assessment for community-dwelling older adults: A national cross-sectional survey

“…Their questionnaires were partially adapted to align with the research question and Swiss healthcare context. To maximise study quality and research rigour, the Checklist for Reporting Results of Internet E-Surveys (CHERRIES, see extended data “CHERRIES Checklist” ( Duc et al , 2022 )) ( Eysenbach, 2004 ), results of different guidelines, systematic reviews and studies ( Andrews et al , 2003 ; Artino et al , 2018 ; Edwards et al , 2009 ; Kelley et al , 2003 ; Lumsden & Morgan, 2005 ) as well as websites ( Creative Research Systems, 2016 ; Deckers, 2017 ; Parrott, 2020 ) were followed. See extended data “Designing Tools” for brief descriptions of each of the tools mentioned above ( Duc et al , 2022 ).…”

Creating Sign Language Web Forms

“…In order to produce a set of online questionnaire guidelines, [39] summarized existing guidelines for paper-based questionnaire design and website design, paying particular attention to issues of accessibility and usability. In addition, [39] examined the existing onlinequestionnaire design guidelines. From their analysis, they proposed a set of guidelines for online questionnaire design, where approximately 33% of the guidelines are derived from paper-based survey design principles.…”

“…From their analysis, they proposed a set of guidelines for online questionnaire design, where approximately 33% of the guidelines are derived from paper-based survey design principles. However, the current design of online surveys typically replicates the look-and-feel of paper-based questionnaires, thus failing to harness the available interactivity of the electronic survey medium [39].…”

“…Other advantages over paper-based questionnaires include cost, speed, appearance, flexibility, functionality, and usability. They can also use pop-up instructions and error messages, incorporate links, and encode difficult skip patterns making such patterns virtually invisible to the respondents [39]. This creates a more dynamic survey environment for a respondent.…”