The Exploration of a Uni-Mode Survey : Impact of Verbose Verbal CATI Elements on Survey Comprehension for CAWI Respondents

This research explores what type of verbal/text survey content translates effectively between survey modes within a Computer Assisted Telephone Interview (CATI) and Computer Assisted Web Interview (CAWI) mixed-mode survey project within unified mixed-mode survey design. This phenomenon is researched through the implementation of online probes within an existing CAWI survey project for sections close to an original CATI design. This research provides insights into how respondents understand and conceptualize verbal content within a unified mixed-mode CAWI survey in today’s online survey environment. This research is timely as the penetration of mobile has increased drastically, which may have implications on CAWI/CATI mixed-mode research considering the conflicting best practices for mobile CAWI survey design and CATI survey design. The results show that respondents do not engage with introductory pages enough to reliably recall their information, even when significantly shortened and simplified. Additionally, respondents are sensitive to high amounts of text and topics within survey question spaces. This means that some aspects of CATI survey design do not translate to CAWI and may even be cause for data quality concerns. These findings highlight some key issues faced by researchers and practitioners, provide some guidance on how design choices may impact results, and presents rich opportunities for future research.