Web-based research and questionnaires are vital epidemiologic techniques that provide important information about public health and disease. They are a popular method of collecting data that is typically less expensive and time-consuming than face-to-face interviews, paper questionnaires mailed or automated telephone menu systems. Questionnaires and Web experiments are not without their limitations, which need to be addressed to achieve reliable and valid results.

A questionnaire can be affected by response bias. This is the tendency of respondents to answer questions based on their own opinions and not on research goals. The design of a questionnaire can influence responses in many ways. For example the wording of the question could influence how respondents respond to the question and interpret it in the same way (reliable) as well as whether the question reflects the subject you are interested in (valid) and whether they are able to accurately answer (credible).

Survey fatigue or a lack engagement with the questionnaire can cause respondents to be less likely to provide honest answers. In addition, the absence of incentive or compensation may dissuade respondents from taking the time to complete survey forms.

Online questionnaires can be an issue for certain experimental designs, such as studies of reaction times or positioning. It is challenging to measure and control variables across participants due to the different settings for browsers as well as operating systems and screen sizes.

In addition, Web-based surveys are only accessible to those who are keyboard and Internet proficient, which currently excludes a significant percentage of the population. In addition, it’s generally internet-based.org/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-questionnaires/ difficult for Web researchers to provide feedback to participants when the window for an experiment has closed.