Good Research Paper About Usability Evaluation

In today’s information age, technology is an inevitable factor in all walks of life. Research area is no exception, and modern research methodologies make use of technology and the internet for effective sample collection and evaluation. Conducting surveys are an integral part of the sampling process in any research activity. The emergence of Internet and associated technology offers excellent opportunity to conduct online surveys by making use of the technology offered by third party software vendors.

Aspects of Online Surveys

There are various factors that make online surveys a preferred model over its conventional counterparts. The conventional style included developing survey questions and converting it into a printed questionnaire. The questionnaires were then deployed among potential respondents. The duly filled up questionnaires are then collected back to be tabulated and used as inputs for further research (Wright, K.).
Online surveys too depend on the same structure in all its functional aspects. The major change occurred in the medium and the involvement of technology. However, online surveys have various advantages and disadvantages when compared to the conventional styles.

Online Surveys saves time

The volume of time required to fulfill an online survey process is considered to be more than 70 percent lesser when compared to the conventional sample collection method. Since the inputs are being collected automatically, the researcher need not involve in active sample collection processes once the surveys are e-mailed to the respondents. In the conventional method, the researcher needs to linger around the respondents for the questionnaires to be returned. There are high chances that certain questionnaires will never return (smartsurvey.co.uk).

The Expense factor

Digitalization always saves money. There are numerous online survey service providers who offer their services totally free. Even better options are paid, but even then, when considering the cost involved with the conventional method, online surveys are much cheaper and offer excellent value for money. The received feedbacks are instantly processed by the software itself and the stored information and survey results are available even after long time periods (smartsurvey.co.uk)

Enhanced accuracy

In an online survey application there are only very limited error factor. The respondent directly feeds in the preferred information in to a central database and all further evaluation and processing is done based on this information. In the conventional system, the respondents initially deliver their opinion using the printed questionnaire. This information is manually processed or fed in to the computers. There are high chances of encountering with errors in this process due to erroneous data entry as well as due to illegible handwriting. (Lumsden, J.)

Online surveys are easy to fill and hence more participation

Online surveys, if designed in the proper way are extremely easier to fill up and hence many respondents will be eager to participate. They have the option to bookmark the link or the URL that points to the survey and participate in it at a later point of time. This kind of flexibility is not available with conventional questionnaire surveys.
With the advent of ‘big data’ and contextual and targeted advertisements, it is even easier to send the surveys as visible only to the specific target audiences. However there are numerous limitations for online surveys. (Lumsden, J.)

Limitations for online surveys

The primary limitation is that online surveys can be use only to target respondents who are active on the Internet. In many cases the respondents might be a cross section of a specific niche group who are not Internet friendly. In such cases this strategy to adopt online surveys will not find success.
Reliability of the Survey Report: The analysis of the report suggests that there are only very few respondents who have furnished unreal information. The majority of the submitted surveys consisted of extremely valuable information which could be processed in developing the final report. (smartsurvey.co.uk)
Validity of the data collected: The survey link was sent only to specifically targeted respondents. By doing so the objective was to ensure that the final data consisted of only valid entries. The strategy truly worked out and the validity of the data could be ensured as expected.

Usability of the Online Survey Websites

The survey websites I shortlisted for conducting various surveys were SurveyMonkey and QuestionPro. Both these service providers offer excellent opportunities to conduct online surveys. The advantage of these service providers is that they have an interesting interface to develop the surveys. The first step is to create an account in the preferred survey portal. The process then starts with planning and finalizing the survey questions. These questions are than fed in to the survey portal. After completing the process, a link or a unique URL will be made available to be sent to prospective respondents. The process of building the survey is extremely user friendly. The survey link can further be sent to respondents using emails, text messages, social media, etc. (Lumsden, J.)
The feedback from the respondents also affirms that participating in the survey was extremely easy as well. The survey revealed useful information and the online system made it extremely easy to handle the respondents and their valuable feedbacks.

References

Wright, K. (n.d.). Researching Internet-Based Populations: Advantages and Disadvantages of Online Survey Research, Online Questionnaire Authoring Software Packages, and Web Survey Services. Retrieved February 14, 2015, from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2005.tb00259.x/full
10 Advantages of Online Surveys. (n.d.). Retrieved February 14, 2015, from https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/articles/10-advantages-of-online-surveys
Lumsden, J. (n.d.). Guidelines for the Design of Online-Questionnaires. NRC Publications Archive. Retrieved February 14, 2015, from http://nparc.cisti-icist.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/npsi/ctrl?action=rtdoc&an=5765110&lang=en