The use of web-based international surveys in information systems research

Abstract

There has been much interest of late in the use of Web-based surveys. However, the methodological issues of Web-based surveys are poorly understood. While this new medium permits low-cost wide-scale access to international populations and is capable of generating a high number of responses within a short period of time with fully automated data capture and real-time validation, the reality is that without systematic guidelines to conduct such research, its results are entirely unreliable. This paper provides an outline of the methodological issues, and suggests how they may be addressed by the technology.