Mobile questionnaires

Questionnaires and surveys can be conducted through mobile phones which are able to connect to the internet.

Mobile phone specific formats and layouts can be programmed into an internet-based survey so that participants can easily access this type of survey on the go. Additionally, mobile phone-specific applications ('apps') can be developed by researchers for their purposes. These apps can be downloaded by participants and the data sent back to the researchers when the phone has access to the internet or cellular data. 

The advantages of this type of survey are that it is convenient for participants, who can complete the survey on the go, and can potentially reach a large population, although the population will necessarily be limited to mobile phone owners.

Additionally, this survey type has the potential to include functions unavailable to other methods. For longitudinal data, reminders can be programmed into the app for participants to take the survey at different intervals or at different times of the day. Additional data such as GPS location and local weather can be collected automatically (subject to user agreement) in addition to survey data, as can information about what the participant is doing (such as listening to music through their phone). Apps for smartphones with cameras can also include questions asking participants to take a photo of their current location.

For more information see:

Mobile Data Collection (MDC) is the use of mobile phones, tablets or personal digital assistants (PDAs) for programming or data collection.

For more advice about using this method see:

A questionnaire is a specific set of written questions which aims to extract specific information from the chosen respondents. 

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