• Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or My Tools.
Impact Factor:1.525 | Ranking:Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary 15 out of 93 | Information Science & Library Science 24 out of 86 | Computer Science, Interdisciplinary Applications 51 out of 104
Source:2016 Release of Journal Citation Reports, Source: 2015 Web of Science Data

Where Am I? A Meta-Analysis of Experiments on the Effects of Progress Indicators for Web Surveys

  1. Ana Villar1
  2. Mario Callegaro2
  3. Yongwei Yang3
  1. 1City University London, London, UK
  2. 2Google UK Ltd., London, UK
  3. 3Gallup, Omaha, NE, USA
  1. Ana Villar, City University London, Northampton Square, London EC1V 0HB, UK. Email: ana.villar.1{at}city.ac.uk

Abstract

The use of progress indicators seems to be standard in many online surveys. Researchers include them in surveys in the hope they will help reduce drop-off rates. However, there is no consensus in the literature regarding their effects. In this meta-analysis, we analyzed 32 randomized experiments comparing drop-off rates of an experimental group who completed an online survey in which a progress indicator was shown to drop-off rates of a control group to whom the progress indicator was not shown. In all the studies, a drop-off was defined as a discontinuance of the survey (at any point) after it has begun, resulting in failure to complete the survey. Three types of progress indicators were analyzed: constant, fast-to-slow, and slow-to-fast. Our results show that, overall, using a constant progress indicator does not significantly help reduce drop-offs and that effectiveness of the progress indicator varies depending on the speed of indicator: Fast-to-slow indicators reduced drop-offs, whereas slow-to-fast indicators increased drop-offs. We also found that among the studies in which a small incentive was promised, showing a constant progress indicator increased the drop-off rate. These findings question the common belief that progress indicators help reduce drop-off rates.

Article Notes

  • Declaration of Conflicting Interests The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

  • Funding The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 License ( http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ ) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page ( http://www.uk.sagepub.com/aboutus/openaccess.htm ).

| Table of Contents
Immediate free access via SAGE Choice

This Article

  1. Social Science Computer Review vol. 31 no. 6 744-762
    SAGE Choice article
  1. Free via Creative Commons: CC
  2. All Versions of this Article:
    1. current version image indicatorVersion of Record - Nov 8, 2013
    2. OnlineFirst Version of Record - Nov 5, 2013
    3. OnlineFirst Version of Record - Aug 19, 2013
    What's this?
  3. References

Share