The development and widespread use of Web surveys have resulted in an outpouring of research on their design. In this volume, Tourangeau, Conrad, and Couper provide a comprehensive summary and synthesis of the literature on this increasingly popular method of data collection. The book includes new integration of the authors' work with other important research on Web surveys, including a meta-analysis of studies that compare reports on sensitive topics in Web surveys with reports collected in other modes of data collection. Adopting the total survey error framework, the book examines sampling and coverage issues, nonresponse, measurement, and the issues involved in combining modes. In addition, the concluding chapter provides a model for understanding the errors in estimates that combine data collected in more than one mode. Web surveys have several important characteristics that affect their ability to collect accurate survey data. Discussing these in detail, the authors address basic design decisions from input widgets to background colors. They additionally focus on the visual character of Web surveys, on their ability to automatically interact with respondents, and on the Web as a method of self-administration. The Science of Web Surveys is relevant for those with the practical goal of improving their own surveys and those with an interest in understanding an increasingly important method of data collection.

Designing and Conducting Business Surveys provides a coherent overview of the business survey process, from start to finish. It uniquely integrates an understanding of how businesses operate, a total survey error approach to data quality that focuses specifically on business surveys, and sound project management principles. The book brings together what is currently known about planning, designing, and conducting business surveys, with producing and disseminating statistics or other research results from the collected data. This knowledge draws upon a variety of disciplines such as survey methodology, organizational sciences, sociology, psychology, and statistical methods. The contents of the book formulate a comprehensive guide to scholarly material previously dispersed among books, journal articles, and conference papers. This book provides guidelines that will help the reader make educated trade-off decisions that minimize survey errors, costs, and response burden, while being attentive to survey data quality. Major topics include: • Determining the survey content, considering user needs, the business context, and total survey quality • Planning the survey as a project • Sampling frames, procedures, and methods • Questionnaire design and testing for self-administered paper, web, and mixed-mode surveys • Survey communication design to obtain responses and facilitate the business response process • Conducting and managing the survey using paradata and project management tools • Data processing, including capture, editing, and imputation, and dissemination of statistical outputs Designing and Conducting Business Surveys is an indispensable resource for anyone involved in designing and/or conducting business or organizational surveys at statistical institutes, central banks, survey organizations, etc.; producing statistics or other research results from business surveys at universities, research organizations, etc.; or using data produced from business surveys. The book also lays a foundation for new areas of research in business surveys.

Includes research focused on developing an instrument for measuring taxpayer locus of control, developing a scale for examining social norms related to tax compliance, identifying characteristics of audit partners that might predict 'risky' behavior, and identifying facets of culture that influence employee satisfaction.

′Some of the most experienced and thoughtful research experts in the world have contributed to this comprehensive Handbook, which should have a place on every serious survey researcher′s bookshelf′ - Sir Robert Worcester, Founder of MORI and President of WAPOR ′82-′84. ′This is the book I have been waiting for. It not only reflects the state of the art, but will most likely also shape public opinion on public opinion research′ - Olof Petersson, Professor of political science, SNS, Stockholm, Sweden ′The Handbook of Public Opinion Research is very authoritative, well organized, and sensitive to key issues in opinion research around the world. It will be my first choice as a general reference book for orienting users and training producers of opinion polls in Southeast Asia′ - Mahar K. Mangahas, Ph.D., President of Social Weather Stations, Philippines (www.sws.org.ph) ′This is the most comprehensive book on public opinion research to date′ - Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Secretary-Treasurer, World Association for Public Opinion Research (WAPOR); Director of Public Opinion Programme, The University of Hong Kong Public opinion theory and research are becoming increasingly significant in modern societies as people′s attitudes and behaviours become ever more volatile and opinion poll data becomes ever more readily available. This major new Handbook is the first to bring together into one volume the whole field of public opinion theory, research methodology, and the political and social embeddedness of polls in modern societies. It comprehensively maps out the state-of-the-art in contemporary scholarship on these topics. With over fifty chapters written by distinguished international researchers, both academic and from the commercial sector, this Handbook is designed to: - give the reader an overview of the most important concepts included in and surrounding the term ′public opinion′ and its application in modern social research - present the basic empirical concepts for assessing public opinion and opinion changes in society - provide an overview of the social, political and legal status of public opinion research, how it is perceived by the public and by journalists, and how it is used by governments - offer a review of the role and use of surveys for selected special fields of application, ranging from their use in legal cases to the use of polls in marketing and campaigns. The Handbook of Public Opinion Research provides an indispensable resource for both practitioners and students alike.

"This book provides an overview of online research methods in urban and planning studies, exploring and discussing new digital tools and Web-based research methods, as well as the scholarly, legal, and ethical challenges associated with their use"--Provided by publisher.