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Online survey tools: A case study of Google Forms

Conference Paper · January 2016

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 Online Survey Tools: A Case Study of Google Forms1
Vasantha Raju N.1and N.S.Harinarayana2

1 Librarian, Government First Grade College, Periyapatna

vasanthrz@gmail.com
2
Associate Professor, Department of Library & Information Science, University of Mysore, Mysore
ns.harinarayana@gmail.com

Abstract: In this paper an attempt has been made to explore the potential advantages of web-
based survey tools for data collections and analysis. It also explains how web-based survey can
be designed and developed for data collections using Google Forms. A sketchy comparison in
the paper provides snapshots of some of the popularweb-based survey tools. The paper concludes
by discussing the technological and privacy issues involved in web-based surveys.

Key words: Online Survey Tools, Web-based Survey Instruments, Google Forms,
Questionnaire Design

1. Introduction
Online survey tools or web-based survey tools have become common data collection instruments
in today’s networked environment. Researchers in academia and marketing use the online
survey tools for data collections. The advantage of web technology has come in handy in
designing, developing and obtaining users’ response in a simpler way. The origin of the Web-
based survey can be traced backto thetelephonic interview, Fax and e-mail surveys (Wright,
2005). Today, the web-based survey tools have replaced its predecessors successfully and
efficiently and have become one of the major tools for conducting survey research.

The application of web-based survey tools have transcended to its predecessors and applied in
almost all fields of study to conduct research (Zhang, 1999). There are a plethora of instruments
available. In a comprehensive study by Kay & Johnson (1999), more than 2000 web-based

1 Citation for this Article:

Vasantha Raju N., & Harinarayana, N.S. (2016, January). Online survey tools: A case study of
Google Forms. Paper presented at the National Conference on "Scientific, Computational &
Information Research Trends in Engineering, GSSS-IETW, Mysore.
survey tools in 59 areas of study were identified. The personal observation of the authors of this
paper shows that more than 20 requests in LIS-Forum – a Listserv of LIS community operated
from India - to participate in online surveys in the past six months. This trend indicates the
growth and development of online survey tools.

The web user population has been increasing day by day and has become theprimary medium for
identifying and accessing information. The presence of huge population on the web has made
web-based survey tools an important mode of data collection for research and thus became the
most widely used data gathering method. In India also,the Internet users are increasing
exponentially in recent times. An estimate shows that there are 243 million users by 2014 which
represent 19.19% of India’s population 2 . This situation has created a fertile ground for
conducting online research as well use web based online survey for doing research in academia
as well marketing research.

2. Online Vs. Other Survey Tools

As said earlier, the developments in the technological fronts have offered many opportunities for
designing and developing user-friendlyweb-based questionnaires. The other survey tools such as
face to face survey, telephonic interviewing methods, and e-mail survey methods have some
inherent limitations. The adversaries of such tool includehigh cost, wastage of paper, long travel,
time consumption both for researchers and respondents and so on. In an interesting
observation,Lin & Wang (2015) found that web-based surveys are more reliable than face to face
surveys. In an another study by Cobanoglu, Warde & Moreo (2001), it was found that compared
to mail and fax based survey methods, web-based survey method had an upper hand regarding
response speed, costs, response rate and variable costs. Table1 provides the details on how online
survey tools or web-based survey tools are beneficial compared to other methods of survey
research.

Table-1: Comparison of Mail, Fax and Web Surveys3

http://www.internetlivestats.com/internet-users/india/#
2
3
Adapted from “A comparison of mail, fax, and web based survey methods” by Cihan Cobanoglu, Bill Warde, and
Patrick J. Moreo, 2001, International Journal of Market Research, 43, p. 407.
 Factor Mail Fax Web-Based
Coverage High Low Low
Speed Low High High
Return cost Preaddressed/prestamped 800 return fax No cost to the
number respondent
Incentives Cash/Non-cash incentives can Coupons may be Coupons may be
be included included included
Wrong address Low Low High
Labour needed High Medium Low
Expertise to Low Medium High
construct
Variable About $1.00 About $0.50 No cost
cost/Each survey*
*These were the estimated costs for a 4-page survey that has a population in the U.S.

3. Online Survey Tools

There are many online survey tools available on the web freely as well as proprietary
versions. Capterra 4 - a free online website that helps for business firms to identify right
software for their organizations - lists almost 200 free and commercial web-based survey
tools. This number is an indication of thegrowthof web survey tools for research in marketing
and academia. Table 2 listspopular web-based survey instruments.

Table-2: Comparison of a Few Well-Known Online Survey Tools and their Salient
Features

Name of the Web- Free/Proprietary Features Limitations

Based Survey
Tools/Product

SurveyMonkey5 Free/Proprietary  Well designed, pretty easy to The free

use, and one can embed version
surveys. offersvery
 10 questions little.
 100 respondents
$ 26/Month
 15 question types
 Light theme customization
andtemplates

4
http://www.capterra.com/about
5
https://www.surveymonkey.com
 Name of the Web- Free/Proprietary Features Limitations
Based Survey
Tools/Product

TypeForm6 Free/Proprietary  Unlimited questions Pro Version

 Unlimited answers
$20/Month
 Data export
 Custom design themes or
choose from templates
 Basic reporting

Google Forms7 Free  Unlimited surveys Data privacy

 Unlimited respondents
 Survey answers and data are
automatically collected in
Google Spreadsheets
 Lots of theme options
 Add your custom logo
 Add images or videos
 Skip logic and page branching
 Embed survey into emails or
website
 Add collaborators
 100% free!

Client Heartbeat8 Proprietary  Recurring survey for follow- No free version

ups
 Automatic remainder of non- $ 25/Month
respondents
 Provides third party data for
benchmarking
Zoho Survey9 Free/Proprietary  Unlimited surveys $39/month
 15 survey questions
 150 responses
 Cross Tab reports
 Easy editor
 Personalized survey questions

6
http://www.typeform.com
7
htpp://www.google.com
8
https://www.clientheartbeat.com
9
https://www.zoho.com/survey/
 Source: http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2014/11/10/best-online-survey-tools

4. A Case Study of Google Forms

The Google Forms is a cloud-based data management tool used for designing and developing
web-based questionnaires. This tool is provided by Google Inc10., andfreely available on the web
to anyone to use and create web-based questionnaires. The anywhere-anytime-access and other
advantages (unlimited surveys, 100% free) have made Google Forms a popular product in online
survey research. Helia Jacinto11 of theUniversity of Lisbon says about Google Forms that “I
have used Google Forms in a survey (for a research project). It comprised over 30 questions and
aimed at gathering data from specific students from elementary schools in the south of Portugal.
The survey link was disseminated trough email and trough the schools board. We have over 1200
responses in a spreadsheet, which are being organised and analysed by a colleague specialized
in such data analysis. We decided to use Google Forms because it seemed quite easy to build the
questionnaire. Overall, the team thinks it is a good resource and worked just fine for what we
needed”.

The following section explains the stepsinvolved in using Google Formsfor web-based survey.
The authors took a research study conducted by one ofthem as an example for explaining the use
ofGoogle Forms. The topic requiresthe data regarding employability status of graduates,
usefulness of LIS skills in employment. Each step starting from designing and developing web-
based survey tools to completion of the survey and analysis of the data is discussed.

 Step-1: Design and Developing Web-BasedQuestionnaire

The Google Forms provides an easy-to-use webinterface for designing and developing web-
based survey questionnaires. Figure 1 shows the web questionnaire design interface. The
Google Form provides various options for capturing the data from the multiple answers. For
example, one can have multiple choice options, check boxes, scale, grid, text, and so on. The
designer (researcher) can set up the exact number of questions required to be collected. The
template option provides built-in templates for giving anaesthetic look for the questionnaire.
Figure2 shows the final output of the web-based questionnaire designed for data collection on the

10
https://docs.google.com/forms/
11
http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Helia_Jacinto
topic “What are they now? A survey of University of Mysore Library and Information Science
(MyDLIS) graduates of 2000-2004”.

Fig-1: Google Forms Questionnaire Design Interface

 Fig-2: Google Forms Completed Web Questionnaire Ready for Hosting

 Step-2: Web-Based Questionnaire for Data Collection Hosted on the

Web
Once the questionnaire is ready, it needs to be hosted on the web. One can generate automatic
Web URL for the questionnaire and send the link to the intended participants (study sample) of
the survey. Usually online forums, social networking sites such as Facebook and e-mail contacts
are used for sending web questionnaire. Figure2 shows the web version of the questionnaire that
was accessed through the web URL12 by the intended participants to fill the online survey. The
researcher posted a message on the LIS-Forum on 30th April 2015 and requested the members of

12
http://goo.gl/forms/RrwO9gQU9j
the forum to participate in the online survey (See Figure 3). In the interest of reaching out wider
participants, simultaneously the web link was also shared via Facebook (See Figure-4).

Dear Sir/Madam/Friends

I have taken up a small survey on “What Are They Now? A Survey of University of Mysore Library and
Information Science (MyDLIS) Graduates of 2000 to 2014” to understand the employability status of
graduates, usefulness of LISc skills in employment and also to obtain on-field MyDLIS graduates
feedback on MLISc Course and its future perspective.

The University of Mysore MLISc graduates who have passed out from 2000 to 2014 can participate in
this survey. Through this forum I kindly request those who have completed their MLISc degree from
the University of Mysore from 2000 to 2014 to participate in this survey. Participation in this survey is
anonymous.

Following link will lead you to the survey: http://goo.gl/forms/RrwO9gQU9j

This survey is very brief and takes 5 to 10 minutes to complete. If you have any questions about the
survey, please contact me at:vasanthrz@gmail.com

Please complete the survey by May 8, 2015. Your assistance in providing invaluable information about
this topic is much appreciated.

Fig-3: Request Sent via LIS-Forum for Participating in the Survey

 Fig-4: Request for Participation in the Web Survey in Facebook

 Step-3: Data Response and Data Coding Sheet

As the request for participating in the web survey was sentviaLIS-Forum and Facebook, there
were some queries via e-mail, and some of the participants even shared the web link on their
Facebook page. More than 71MyDLIS LIS graduates responded to the questionnaire through the
web. Figure 5 depicts day-wise data collection of the web survey. One of the advantages of the
online survey is having the real-time data on the number of participants participated in the survey
on the daily basis.

Day-Wise Data Response Rate

14
Number of Respondents

13 13
12

10 10

8 8

6
5 5
4 4 4

2 2 2
1 1 1 1
0 18/05/2015
30/04/2015
01/05/2015
02/05/2015
03/05/2015
04/05/2015
05/05/2015
06/05/2015
07/05/2015
08/05/2015
09/05/2015
10/05/2015
11/05/2015
12/05/2015
13/05/2015
14/05/2015
15/05/2015
16/05/2015
17/05/2015

19/05/2015
20/05/2015

Date

Fig-5: Day-Wise Data Response Rate

Another major advantage as mentioned elsewhere in this paper is that the respondents’ data is
available in the format suitable for analysis. The researcher need not key-in respondent data
manually and thus the data coding error is minimized. The Google Forms records the respondent
data in its spreadsheet and provide anopportunity to export to other statistical packages for
analysis, if required. Figure 6 shows the data which is in analyzable format.

Fig-6: Data Response Automatically Stored in Google Spreadsheet

 Step-4: Data Analysis and Graphical Representation of Data

As mentioned in this paper, the Google Forms allow data analysis and graphical presentation
online. Once the web questionnaireis filled online, automatically the data will be recorded in
Google spreadsheet in an analyzable format and allow for tabulation and graphical representation
of data. Figure 7 shows the responded data in a graphical presentation as well in descriptive
statistics. Graphics and Descriptive statistics can be easily importedintoanother format such as
MS Wordetc.

Fig-7: Graphical Presentation of Samples in Google Forms

5. Issues involved in Conducting Online Surveys

Though the advancement in web technologies and users access to the Internet has made web-
based surveys easier,some issues needto be carefully looked into while planning and conducting
web surveys. Questions about sample selections, technological variations, low response rate,
privacy and security issues (Evans & Mathur, 2005; Zhang, 1999) have remained important
questions to be addressed while conducting online surveys. In developing countries, where
Internet penetration is still not widespread and low compared to developed countries, identifying
potential sample for theweb-based survey may prove to be ahorrendous task. The privacy and
security issues and technological variations have becomemore important matters since there are
no strict policies or monitoring systems to address these problems in countries such as India.
 6. Conclusion
The Online surveys or Web-based surveys have become important because of lesser cost in
administrating questionnaire,ability to reach out to alarge population, geographical and temporal
advantages, reaching unique population easily and other benefits. The study shows how theweb-
basedsurvey is used for data collection fora small study in library and information science using
Google Forms. The free availability of the tool and automatic recording of user response in its
spreadsheet have made data collection and analysis simple. In a country like India where
internet user base is increasing day by day web-based survey tools may become obvious choice
for survey research.

References
Cobanoglu, C., Warde, B., & Moreo, P.J. (2001). A comparison of mail, fax and web-based
survey methods, International Journal of Market Research, 43, 405-10.

Evans, J.R., & Mathur, A. (2005). The value of online surveys. Internet Research, 15 (2), 195-
219.

Fleming, L.M., & Bowden, M. (2009). Web-based surveys as an alternative method to traditional
mail methods, Journal of Environmental Management, 90, 284-292.

Kaye B.K. & Johnson T.J. (1999).Research methodology: Taming the cyber frontier. Social
Science Computer Review, 17, 323-337.

Wright, K.B. (2006). Researching Internet-based populations: Advantages and disadvantages of

online survey research, online questionnaire authoring software packages, and web survey
services. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 10(3). Retrieved from
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2005.tb00259.x/full

Zhang, Y. (1999). Using the Internet for survey research: A case study.Journal of the American
Society for Information Science and Technology, 51(1), 57-68.

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