06-09-2017, 01:19 PM
The advent of online technologies during the 1990s has led to the development of numerous new automated data collection techniques and preconfigured web surveys (Ostendorf, 1994). These tend to emulate manual keyboard systems used for anonymous surveys in political and advertising research (Baggaley, 1997). The uses of the term "survey" differ widely. Mancinelle (2003) suggests that surveys refer to a single question, while surveys are more complex. A previous report of the current series (click here for Technical Report XII), however, has recommended the use of the term "online survey" by referring generally to "questionnaires, questionnaires, surveys and evaluations" (Baggaley, Kane and Wade, 2002). The online format typically associated with these activities is one in which participants place closed "votes" in response to questions or fixed statements, and in which the votes are counted. The current use of "survey" as a generic term is, therefore, consistent with the definition of "survey" provided by The Oxford Dictionary (Sykes, 1976), as associated with voting and mediated by ballot counting. For the purposes of the current discussion, an online polling system can further be defined as an asynchronous or real-time process of information gathering, obtained through responses to questions mediated by web-based formats.