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This experiment investigated the effects of survey administration mode (Web vs. paper and pencil) and survey length (short or long) on the responses of a large sample of primary and secondary school professionals in the U.S. The 812 participants in this study were part of an initial random sample of 1,000 individuals representing 5.81% of the membership of a national professional organization. The participants were randomly assigned to each of the four treatment conditions. Results indicated (1) substantially lower response rates for Web surveys than for same-length paper surveys; (2) a higher response rate for short surveys than for long surveys with paper, but not Web, questionnaires; and (3) a younger age for Web respondents, as compared with their paper counterparts. In light of prior research, we suggest that paper-and-pencil methods be used for surveying professionals in primary and secondary school settings.
Over the past 15 years, the expansion of Internet technology has changed the way professionals communicate and conduct survey research (Couper, 2005). Over 250 survey research studies have been completed using the Internet (Reips & Lengler, 2005). Web surveys have several advantages over traditional paper surveys: greater convenience, lower cost, faster transmission, more rapid response, and fewer data entry errors (Cobanoglu, Warde, & Moreo, 2001; Dillman, 2000; McDonald & Adam, 2003; Sheehan & McMillan, 1999). The ease of transmission of Internet surveys allows researchers to gather information from geographically and demographically diverse samples, facilitating access to a wider range of individuals (Reips, 2002). Surveys administered online also may be less vulnerable than paper-and-pencil questionnaires to decrements in response rate as a result of increases in survey length (Cook, Heath, & Thompson, 2000; Dillman, 2000), although these findings have been mixed (cf. Marcus, Bosnjak, Lindner, Pilischenko, & Schutz, 2007; Sheehan, 2001).
Although online surveys have distinct advantages over their offline counterparts, some reasons for caution have been noted. Differences in response rates have been reported for Web and mail questionnaires, with some investigations indicating higher Web response rates (Cobanoglu et al., 2001; McCabe, Couper, Cranford, & Boyd, 2006) and others reporting no differences (Gosling, Vazire, Srivastava, & John, 2004; Kaplowitz, Hadlock, & Levine, 2004) or lower Web response rates (Bachmann, Elfrink, & Vazzana, 2000; Weible & Wallace, 1998). In addition, Web surveys...