In today's world, which has been administered by computers and artificial intelligence in many areas, online data gathering has become an inevitable way of collecting data. Many researchers have preferred online surveying, considering the advantages of this method over the classical ones. Hence, the factors that may affect the response rate of online surveying have become a prominent research topic. In line with the popularity of this issue, the purpose of this chapter was to clarify the concept of online surveys; give information about their types, advantages, and usage; and investigate the factors that affect the participants' response behaviors. Besides the discussions on the theoretical framework of online surveying, an online survey aiming to determine the factors affecting the participation in online surveying was administered to a group of people to investigate the response behaviors thoroughly. The findings revealed that rs might affect ants' response behaviors to online surveys in various ways radically.
TopIntroduction
Surveys are systems used to obtain or explain the attitudes, behaviors and personality traits of individuals. These systems consist of 7 stages. These stages are; setting goals, designing research, identifying or developing valid and reliable data collection tools, collecting data, organizing, analyzing and reporting data (Fink, 2003). There are many types of surveying. Online surveying is one of these types.
The online survey method has become a popular data collection method in educational settings for the last three decades. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the online survey method has started to be used more than ever because of the limitations. The importance of the Internet and other online means for collecting data is perceived as critical technological improvements in the data collection field. Dillman (2007) stated that email, the Internet, and other electronic survey methods dramatically improve data collection efficiency. These efficiencies consist of nearly the complete elimination of paper and pencil, postage, emailing methods of data collection. Also, the data entry costs have disappeared. Also, he stated that thanks to the electronic-online survey method, it has been more possible to reach international samples. In addition, the time required for survey implementation may be reduced from months, weeks to days, and sometimes hours. Thanks to low cost and time efficiency, these methods allow for synchronous time; hence respondents and researchers get the chance to observe the data results being compiled instantaneously.
Online surveying, also known as web or internet surveys, is used by both the managerial and academic communitiesnity. It is widespread for surveying business areas, especially in marketing and consumers, academic studies, theses, and research. Despite the advantages and widespread usages in many fields, several issues should be considered in online surveying. The advantages listed above have made online survey methods the most preferred data collection method in many research areas.
While using online survey methods, the researchers should consider the factors that may affect this data gathering process. Response rate is one of the most crucial factors that may affect the whole process of data gathering in terms of online surveying. The response rate in online surveying depends on many factors arranged and controlled by the researchers. These factors are sample, delivery mode, invitation design, the use of pre-notification and reminders, and the use of incentives (Sales and Bista, 2017). Because of the importance of the response rates in the research settings, these factors have been investigated in many studies. For example, Fan and Yan (2010) asserted that sponsors might influence the response rates. It has been found that targeting the population is vital in response rates, and students and employee populations have been defined as the most likely groups to respond to online surveys than the general populations (Shih & Fan, 2008; Vance, 2011). As for academic research, the usage of invitations that include personal greetings, titles, and addresses significantly increased response rates (Heerwegh, Vanhove, Matthijs, & Loosveldt, 2003; Joinson, Woodley, & Reips, 2007). Also, asking for help from the responders is more effective in increasing the response rates (Porter, 2004a). In several studies, it is also found that reminders and pre-notification are the significant elements that enhance the response rates in online surveying (Porter, 2004b; Spruyt & Van Droogenbroeck, 2014; Veen, Göritz, & Sattler, 2016). The listed studies are only a limited part of the related literature, and many studies are investigating the response rates in online surveying worldwide. However, the same situation is not valid in Turkey. Online surveying is a relatively new issue in Turkey, and it has been popular since the 2010s. Hence there is a limited number of studies investigating the factors that may influence the response rates of the students’ in Turkey. For this reason, it is aimed to analyze the factors that may change the response rates of adolescents in online surveying. Within the context of this study, the research questions are listed below: