CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 263Survey Methodology and NonresponseDigital Mental Health InterventionsSurvey Sampling and Estimation Techniques

Advantages and limitations of web-based surveys: evidence from a child mental health survey

Heiervang, Einar, Goodman, Robert·2011·Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
DOI 10.1007/s00127-009-0171-9
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Background Web-based surveys may have advantages related to the speed and cost of data collection as well as data quality. However, they may be biased by low and selective participation. We predicted that such biases would distort point-estimates such as average symptom level or prevalence but not patterns of associations with putative risk-factors.Methods A structured psychiatric interview was administered to parents in two successive surveys of child mental health. In 2003, parents were interviewed face-to-face, whereas in 2006 they completed the interview online. In both surveys, interviews were preceded by paper questionnaires covering child and family characteristics.Results The rate of parents logging onto the web site was comparable to the response rate for face-to-face interviews, but the rate of full response (completing all sections of the interview) was much lower for web-based interviews. Full response was less frequent for non-traditional families, immigrant parents, and less educated parents. Participation bias affected point estimates of psychopathology but had little effect on associations with putative risk factors. The time and cost of full web-based interviews was only a quarter of that for face-to-face interviews.Conclusions Web-based surveys may be performed faster and at lower cost than more traditional approaches with personal interviews. Selective participation seems a particular threat to point estimates of psychopathology, while patterns of associations are more robust.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1007/s00127-009-0171-9

Cites

17 of 17 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Heiervang, E., & Goodman, R.
Affiliations
  • Uni Research (Norway) (NO)
  • King's College London (GB)
Corresponding author
Heiervang, Einar
ORCID
Venue
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2009-11-18
Volume
46
Issue
1
Pages
69-76
ISSN
  • 0933-7954 (ISSN-L)
  • 1433-9285
DOI
10.1007/s00127-009-0171-9
OpenAlex
W2040065583
Cited by
263
References
16
Citations by year
2026: 10 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 30 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 34 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 18 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 14 · 2012: 10
FWCI
19.48
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
Locations
  • Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Research Portal (King's College London) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Norges Forskningsråd
  • Helsedirektoratet
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Survey Methodology and Nonresponse
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
  • Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Survey Sampling and Estimation Techniques
Keywords
online surveys, child mental health, selective participation, response bias, non-traditional families, immigrant parents, educational attainment, data collection costs, risk factors, prevalence estimates
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Age Factors, Mental Disorders, Child, Cost-Benefit Analysis, Costs and Cost Analysis, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Health Surveys, Humans, Interviews as Topic, Male, Norway, Poverty, Surveys and Questionnaires, Risk Factors, Urban Population, Prevalence, Internet, Emigrants and Immigrants

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review