Going web or staying paper? The use of web-surveys among older people
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(2020) 20:252
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Open Access
Going web or staying paper? The use of web-surveys among older people Susanne Kelfve1,2* , Marie Kivi3, Boo Johansson3 and Magnus Lindwall3,4
Abstract Background: Web-surveys are increasingly used in population studies. Yet, web-surveys targeting older individuals are still uncommon for various reasons. However, with younger cohorts approaching older age, the potentials for web-surveys among older people might be improved. In this study, we investigated response patterns in a websurvey targeting older adults and the potential importance of offering a paper-questionnaire as an alternative to the web-questionnaire. Methods: We analyzed data from three waves of a retirement study, in which a web-push methodology was used and a paper questionnaire was offered as an alternative to the web questionnaire in the last reminder. We mapped the response patterns, compared web- and paper respondents and compared different key outcomes resulting from the sample with and without the paper respondents, both at baseline and after two follow-ups. Results: Paper-respondents, that is, those that did not answer until they got a paper questionnaire with the last reminder, were more likely to be female, retired, single, and to report a lower level of education, higher levels of depression and lower self-reported health, compared to web-respondents. The association between retirement status and depression was only present among web-respondents. The differences between web and paper respondents were stronger in the longitudinal sample (after two follow-ups) than at baseline. Conclusions: We conclude that a web-survey might be a feasible and good alternative in surveys targeting people in the retirement age range. However, without offering a paper-questionnaire, a small but important group will likely be missing with potential biased estimates as the result. Keywords: Survey mode, Older adults, Web-survey, Web-push methodology, Non-response, Generalizability, Retirement, Sociodemographic differences
Background A web-based survey offers a cheap and convenient mode of data collection, but require that people in the target group have access to internet as well as being willing to answer a web-survey [1–3]. In this paper, we are interested in the potential use of web-surveys among older people. Our rationale is that internet use are more * Correspondence: [email protected] 1 Division Ageing and Social Change (ASC), Department of Culture and Society (IKOS), Linköping University, SE-581 83 Linköping, Sweden 2 Aging Research Center (ARC), Karolinska Institutet & Stockholm University, Tomtebodavägen 18A, SE-171 65 Solna, Sweden Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
common in cohorts approaching old age today, than in older cohorts [4]. So far, there is limited research on the use of web-based surveys targeting older people and its potentials. Traditionally, survey data has been collected by interviews (face-to-face or telephone) or by paper questionnaires, usually
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