Response Behavior in a Video-Web Survey: A Mode Comparison Study

Intrigued by the possibilities of improving the data quality of web surveys by incorporating human-like features, we developed a video-web survey for this study. This paper describes an experiment that compares response behavior in the video-web mode to traditional web and interviewer-administered surveys. The disclosure of sensitive information and respondents’ engagement were examined. Overall, despite the visual and auditory representation of a human interviewer in the video-web mode, video-web seems to have been experienced by respondents much like a traditional web survey. Based on these results, we argue that for human-like features to fully increase the level of engagement it would require the inclusion of responsiveness. However, researchers should be aware of possible social presence effects that may arise when creating web surveys with responsive human-like features.