New publication on the format of questions in online surveys in the journal Social Science Computer Review

Vasja Vehovar, PhD, Mick P. Couper, PhD, and Gregor Čehovin, PhD have published a scientific paper in one of the most prestigious journals, Social Science Computer Review, on the format of questions in online surveys entitled "Alternative Layouts for Grid Questions in PC and Mobile Web Surveys: An Experimental Evaluation Using Response Quality Indicators and Survey Estimates".

These are survey questions with the same introduction and response categories (e.g., rating multiple statements on a scale of 1 to 5). Currently, the default layout in web surveys for these questions is a grid (i.e., a table). The authors of the paper show that such grids should be decomposed into individual questions not only on mobile devices, but also on personal computers. Instead of a table with an introductory part of the question at the top and different continuations in rows, it is therefore better to show the user several individual questions, even if they have an identical introduction or belong to the same set of questions.

This is an extremely important change in the layout of online surveys; based on this, the 1KA tool will no longer use grids as the default setting for respondents on personal computers starting in 2023. Instead of tables, the unfolding layout will appear by default.