Web-based questionnaires and experiments are vital methods for analyzing epidemiology and provide crucial information about public health and diseases. They are a popular method to collect data that is usually less expensive and time intensive than face-to-face interviews, mail-in questionnaires, or automated telephone menu systems. Questionnaires and Web experiments do not come without their limitations, which should be addressed to ensure reliable and accurate results.
A questionnaire can be affected by response bias. This is the tendency for respondents to answer questions based on their own opinions instead of research goals. Additionally, questionnaire design can influence responses in a variety of ways. For example the wording of the question can affect the way respondents interpret and understand the question in the same manner (reliable), measure the topic you’re interested in (valid), or are able to answer accurately (credible).
Lack of involvement with the questions may cause respondents to be less likely to provide honest answers. Additionally, a lack of incentives or compensation can discourage respondents from taking the time to complete a questionnaire.
Online questionnaires can also be difficult for certain research designs like studies of response time or positioning. It is difficult to control and measure variables across different participants due to the variations in browser settings operating systems, settings, and screen sizes.
In the end, web-based surveys can only be accessed by those who are keyboard and Internet literate. This excludes a large part of the population. It is also difficult for Web researchers debriefing participants after the experiment window has closed.
