Guidelines for Developing a Robust Web Survey

A web survey is an effective tool which is used frequently in academic and non-academic research. An increase in the internet usage and easy access to web technology facilitate the growing popularity of web surveys, but the absence of exhaustive literature on web surveys presents a significant challenge. This paper presents basic guidelines for developing a robust web survey. Aspects related to data quality, coverage bias, questionnaire design, nonresponse bias, response bias, processing error, data duplication and pilot testing are discussed in detail. The paper closes with suggestions on key areas in which advanced research is required to enhance the data quality of web questionnaires