Exploring the Feasibility of Recruiting Respondents and Collecting Web Data via Smartphone: A Case Study of Text-To-Web Recruitment for a General Population Survey in Germany

The widespread usage of smartphones, as well as their technical features, offers many opportunities for survey research. As a result, the importance and popularity of smartphone surveys is steadily increasing. To explore the feasibility of a new text-to-web approach for surveying people directly via their smartphones, we conducted a case study in Germany in which we recruited respondents from a mobile random digit dialing sample via text messages that included a link to a web survey. We show that, although this survey approach is feasible, it is hampered by a number of issues, namely a high loss of numbers at the invitation stage, and a high rate of implicit refusals on the landing page of the survey.

Automated summary

The importance and popularity of smartphone surveys are increasing, but this approach is hindered by issues such as a high loss of numbers during the invitation stage and a high rate of implicit refusals on the landing page of the survey.