Program and Schedule

The professional development workshop "Web-based data collection methods: Surveys and experiments" enables participants to evaluate Web-based data collection projects according to the most current academic standards. Furthermore, participants will be introduced how to implement high-quality Web-based data collection projects on their own.

The workshop will provide:

• Up-to-date, empirically grounded, and pertinent concepts and skills that can give participants and their organizations a competitive edge;
• Practical techniques that can be readily applied;
• Superior in-class examples and hands-on exercises. 

With more than 10 years' experience in Web-based data collection methodology each, Dr. Bosnjak and Dr. Reips are leading researchers, consultants, and mentors in their respective fields and provide advanced learning opportunities.

During the workshop, the following topics will be covered:

• Web-based surveys: A practical and scientifically grounded overview of possible Web-survey errors will be given, along with the corresponding methods and procedures to reduce these errors. Specifically, methods to sample and recruit participants, techniques to reduce a broad set of non-participation and non-response types, and visual design principles will be learned. Moreover, different factors affecting response validity specifically applicable to Web-based survey situations will be introduced with the aid of hands-on examples. The workshop will also include demonstrations of tools to conduct Web-based surveys, from special solutions for specific phases in the data-collection process to comprehensive high-end tools encompassing online panel administration. Within separate time slots, attention will be devoted to Web surveys in consumer research and in organizational/corporate contexts.
• Web-based experiments: An up-to-date overview of basics, techniques, methods, tricks, and tools for Internet-based experimentation. Using practical examples, workshop participants will learn how to conduct Web experiments that provide results within hours. The workshop includes hands-on demonstrations of interactive systems for designing Web experiments online, e.g. WEXTOR and covers issues in experimental design like security, recruitment, sampling, self-selection, multiple submissions, question design, dropout, error estimation, distributed experimentation, data handling, data quality, and log file analysis. Techniques presented include the high hurdle technique, the warm-up technique, sub-sampling procedures, multiple site entry, and ways to check for motivational confounding. Web services like the free "::web experiment list::" are presented, and analysis tools for subsequent data analysis, such as Scientific LogAnalyzer.

The following schedule gives an overview of the sequence and the designated time frames for the topics covered:

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