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Gap narrows on response rates, but applications still limited.
Advances in computer technology and the increased popularity of electronicmail applications have enhanced the potential for conducting survey research through e-mail. In an experiment comparing mail and e-mail data collection, email fared well with respect to response rates, item omission, response time, and data quality. The authors make a case for using e-mail to conduct research, but only under specific circumstances.
The widespread use of personal computers in the workplace and at home, the opening of the Internet to the general public, and the dispersion of software and hardware that allows linking of computers all are contributing to the feasibility of electronic mail as a survey mode.
A 1995 Gallup poll found that nine out of 10 Fortune 1,000 companies and half of smaller businesses now run e-mail applications on networks. The study also projects the number of e-mail users to reach 38.9 million by 1998.
Although increased use of e-mail in the workplace seems apparent, the New York Times reports that home access and usage is growing even more rapidly. A 1995 survey of Internet users found that most people are tapping into the World Wide Web and commercial on-line services from home rather than from the office or school. And, according to the "Information and Interactive Services Report," approximately 14,000 new consumers are linking up to the Internet daily.
E-MAIL RESEARCH
E-mail questionnaires appeared almost simultaneously with the introduction of e-mail and the opening of the Internet. Intra-company networking allows managers to gather data from fellow employees for in-house purposes through e-mail. And participants of on-line discussion groups regularly receive requests for survey responses on topics of interest to the groups. However, despite the increasing use of e-mail surveys, very few researchers have investigated this new form of data collection.
The earliest studies of e-mail surveys were restricted to populations sampled from within a single company or university. For example, AT&T conducted an e-mail survey of its international employees in 1990 and obtained a 60% response rate, and Lotus Development Corp. achieved a 56% response rate to a 1994 employee survey. In 1986, Sara Kiesler and Lee Sproull surveyed students and employees in a university setting who worked in a computer-intensive environment....