Abstract:

The Internet offers several versatile new technologies which can be applied not only to interviewing Internet users but also as a new and superior means to solve problems for which CAPI is presently used. Internet-based interviewing is not just for self-completion interviews but is useful to interviewers as well. Early work in this area has been concerned with how Internet interviews may be achieved at all even with a simple questionnaire. This paper considers the next stage when researchers will wish to present major questionnaires of the kind supported by other CAI tools. This paper examines the alternatives available for interviewing using the Internet and considers the strengths and weaknesses of each in the context of major questionnaires. The conclusion of this analysis is that an organisation must be prepared to use different CAI techniques for different applications. The author presents a methodology for preparing surveys based on this analysis and shows its application in the case of the RegioLicht Electronic Community experiment in the Netherlands.