Unveiling Respondents’ Collaboration in Online Questionnaire Responses

Abstract

In research, data collection and analysis are a challenging and stressful task. Researchers work hard to come up with reliable and accurate results using various tools. In the era of digital research methodologies, technology has offered a huge number of research instruments that facilitate the process of conducting quantitative studies. Online questionnaire, for instance, is one of the most popular data collection tools used in research, especially in the field of humanities. It has many advantages such as providing quick responses, being easily used, cost effective, and time saving. It can be used with large populations despite time and distance. However, the problem is that many researchers encounter problems in gathering data as some respondents ignore filling in the questionnaires. The majority of researchers share their online questionnaires on social media or through professional emails, where a large community of informants exists and fits many requirements. Nevertheless, the frequency of responses sometimes is not satisfying, which hinders the researchers’ study and analysis. Therefore, they end up using fewer representative samples or use other research instruments as a backup. The current paper attempts to delve deeper in this area and examine the possible reasons of the informants’ reluctance to fill in online questionnaires by means of an interview, as the most appropriate research tool in this context. In other terms, understanding the collaborative nature of respondent engagement in online questionnaires is paramount to uncover the factors influencing their willingness to collaborate. This paper also aims to suggest some recommendations to create good online questionnaires in order to raise the frequency of responses and enhance the effectiveness and validity of online questionnaire studies.