In this post I reproduce a text that for me is fundamental in the field of research methodology .
You can consult it in the manual “ Social research methodology. Innovative techniques and their applications. ” Authors: M. Arroyo Menéndez – I. Gábada Rodríguez (Coordinators). Editorial Síntesis. 2012. I recommend you consult it.
I transcribe it literally with some contributions based on my experience in the research methodology.
“The participation of respondents is determined by the way they respond to the questionnaire. Traditionally, three possible forms of response have been defined:
the complete answer to a questionnaire,
partial non-response – don't know – no answer to some questions in the questionnaire, and
non-response to the entire questionnaire, called total non-response.
According to the literature, this typology has been used for practically all modes of producing survey information.”
“In the case of online surveys, the typology explained in the previous paragraph, based on three types of participation, is a bit insufficient. This is why authors such as Bosnjak et al. (2001) have determined up to seven types of participation – or non-response – in an online survey. These authors establish this typology by relating the questions shown to the respondent and the questions answered:
Complete surveys: This situation occurs when the respondent views latvia phone number entire questionnaire and answers all the questions.
Non-respondents: Respondents who do not participate in the survey fall into this situation.
“Respondents who drop out: These are respondents who give some answers but abandon the questionnaire before completing it .”
My note: I have to make an important note here. We must determine in advance what the “cut-off point” will be, or the minimum number of responses that respondents must answer in order to consider the survey valid. We should not eliminate an incomplete survey from our research methodology if respondents have answered the most important questions, which is why I recommend placing them in the first blocks of the survey, never at the end.
“Watchers: These are respondents who see all the questions in the questionnaire but do not answer any.
Drop-off watchers: They see a few questions in the quiz and then drop out before reaching the end.
They do not answer some questions: They see the entire questionnaire but only answer some questions.
They do not answer some questions and abandon: These are respondents who do not read the entire questionnaire, answer only some questions and abandon the questionnaire before finishing it.”
Note from me: we must take into account each of these indicators in the productivity ratios of our research methodology . They will help us to know exactly the number of records (emails, names, contacts, etc.) that we must have to obtain a valid survey. This is especially important for cases in which we must buy a database with these records. We pay for each one of them, but we will not get a valid survey of all of them. And this will affect our budget.