Description:
Answering questions on surveys involves the access of internal cognitive
knowledge structures, the retrieval of records from external data-bases,
and the navigation of items on the computer interface. In this study a
number of alternative designs for on-line questionnaire presentation were
investigated. A long heterogeneous survey was partitioned in four ways:
whole/form-based, semantic/section-based, screen/page-based, and single
item-based. Questionnaires were presented with or without an index which
resulted in eight versions. Times for initial completion of the
questionnaire were recorded as well as subjective assessments. Neither
initial completion times nor subjective assessments differed among the
eight versions due to the highly linear navigation of the survey
structures. Respondents were also asked to revisit 16 questions based on
only the topic of the question or on the topic and the question number and
to change their answers. Revision times reflected ease of finding items
in the structure of the survey and the use of an index to the sections of
the questionnaire.