Exploring Survey Paradata to Understand Respondent’s Interactions for Better Quality Data

Thomas M. Menino Convention & Exhibition Center 

In today's business world, finding ways to improve survey collection data and response rates can be a challenge for many survey data collection agencies. One way to achieve this is to utilize paradata; data that is collected about the survey data collection process. Paradata supports statistically informed evaluation, monitoring and managing of survey collection activities to help improve the survey web instrument usability (Kreuter, 2010). This analysis gives insight into how respondents interact with the survey through exploring respondents' break-off trends, navigation of the survey, participation on certain days of the week, utilization of help resources and completion time. In this study, we analyzed paradata from multiple surveys ranging in size and topics to provide a comprehensive understanding of respondent's survey burden. In this presentation, we will share the best methods to utilize large datasets and to enhance the survey respond rate and survey data quality.

Paradata

Data Collection

Survey Response Rate 

Survey Research Methods Section