Online survey: A national study with school principals

Abstract

School principals are busy people. From a government perspective they are also strategic stakeholders of information products and services, which government agencies deliver to school communities in order to achieve higher levels of quality and equity in education. In the context of user-centered ICT developments, public organizations find online surveys to be a reliable and cost effective means for gathering information on the needs and perceptions of its citizens. This study aims to understand the influence of email scheduling on the response rate and response time for an online survey, focusing on a representative sample of 1000 school principals at public and private schools in Chile. It also adds an exploratory inquiry (n = 100) into embedding a survey in an email, as opposed to sending it via a link. In line with previous research, the findings reveal the non-significant effect of weekday and daytime emails on response rate and response time. They also reveal that a reminder message can have a significant effect on response rate and that there was no difference in response rate between surveys embedded in an email and surveys sent via a link. Significant differences are found in the response rate and response time between urban and rural schools. The implications for bridging the information gap in online consultations are discussed.