The impact of academic sponsorship on Web survey dropout and item non-response
This paper reports two experiments in which the prominence of university sponsorship on Web surveys was systematically manipulated, and its effects on dropout and item non-response were observed. In Study 1, 498 participants were randomised to online surveys with either high or low university sponso...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Published: |
2016
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/31087 |
| _version_ | 1848753277079912448 |
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| author | Allen, Peter Roberts, Lynne |
| author_facet | Allen, Peter Roberts, Lynne |
| author_sort | Allen, Peter |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | This paper reports two experiments in which the prominence of university sponsorship on Web surveys was systematically manipulated, and its effects on dropout and item non-response were observed. In Study 1, 498 participants were randomised to online surveys with either high or low university sponsorship. Overall, 13.9 percent of participants commenced, but did not complete the surveys, and there was no difference between the proportions of participants dropping out of each condition. However, counter to our predictions, participants in the high sponsorship condition displayed significantly higher item non-response. In Study 2 (N = 159), which addressed a rival explanation for the findings in Study 1, the overall dropout rate was 23.9 percent and sponsorship prominence had no effect on either outcome variable. Overall, these findings suggest that hosting information pages on university Web sites, placing university logos on survey pages, and including the name of the university in survey URLs do not reliably impact on dropout or item non-response. Although it may seem disappointing that enhancing sponsor visibility is not sufficient to reduce dropout and item non-response, researchers without ready access to university Web servers or branding will appreciate these findings, as they indicate that minimally visible sponsorship does not necessarily compromise data quality. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T08:21:57Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-31087 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T08:21:57Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-310872020-07-22T08:19:58Z The impact of academic sponsorship on Web survey dropout and item non-response Allen, Peter Roberts, Lynne This paper reports two experiments in which the prominence of university sponsorship on Web surveys was systematically manipulated, and its effects on dropout and item non-response were observed. In Study 1, 498 participants were randomised to online surveys with either high or low university sponsorship. Overall, 13.9 percent of participants commenced, but did not complete the surveys, and there was no difference between the proportions of participants dropping out of each condition. However, counter to our predictions, participants in the high sponsorship condition displayed significantly higher item non-response. In Study 2 (N = 159), which addressed a rival explanation for the findings in Study 1, the overall dropout rate was 23.9 percent and sponsorship prominence had no effect on either outcome variable. Overall, these findings suggest that hosting information pages on university Web sites, placing university logos on survey pages, and including the name of the university in survey URLs do not reliably impact on dropout or item non-response. Although it may seem disappointing that enhancing sponsor visibility is not sufficient to reduce dropout and item non-response, researchers without ready access to university Web servers or branding will appreciate these findings, as they indicate that minimally visible sponsorship does not necessarily compromise data quality. 2016 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/31087 10.5210/fm.v21i2.6144 fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Allen, Peter Roberts, Lynne The impact of academic sponsorship on Web survey dropout and item non-response |
| title | The impact of academic sponsorship on Web survey dropout and item non-response |
| title_full | The impact of academic sponsorship on Web survey dropout and item non-response |
| title_fullStr | The impact of academic sponsorship on Web survey dropout and item non-response |
| title_full_unstemmed | The impact of academic sponsorship on Web survey dropout and item non-response |
| title_short | The impact of academic sponsorship on Web survey dropout and item non-response |
| title_sort | impact of academic sponsorship on web survey dropout and item non-response |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/31087 |