IWIS 2012 September 2012 Daejeon, Korea
Social Participation and Intent to Participate in Internet
SurveysU-Seok SeoDepartment of Urban Sociology, University of
[email protected]
Gihong YiDepartment of Sociology, Hallym
[email protected]
Introduction2Proportion of Internet Surveys in Surveys of
Statistics Korea (%)YearSurveys200520072008200920102011Mining and
Manufacturing Survey58.852.661.362.563.9Census on Service Industry-
11314.919.7Cyber Shopping Survey27.939.745.84948.3Household Income
and Expenditure Survey38.642.448.84646.8Food Grain Consumption
Survey- - 16.92440.4Populatioan and Housing Census0.947.9Internet
Surveys in Korea increased quite consistentlyInternet survey: 6.4%
in 2005, 16% in 2011 (KORA)Marketing analysis using online panels /
Web-based social surveysGovernment statistics collected through
Internet surveys (e.g., Statistics Korea, formerly the National
Statistical Office)
Reasons for Increase in Internet SurveysIncrease in Internet use
in KoreaThe rate of Internet use in Korea: 78.0% (July in 2011,
KISA)99% use Internet in the age groups 10s through 30sAge gaps
disappearing
Increasing difficulties for traditional surveysIncrease in the
refusal rate of face-to-face surveys, due to lifestyle
diversification and privacy concerns The usage of landline phone
drops, which leads to difficulties in contacting young people.
33Internet Surveys as an Alternative Mode of Data
CollectionAdvantages of Internet SurveysData collection with less
cost and timeIncreasing accessibility with certain groups of
populationEnhanced monitoring of the ongoing process of data
collection
Sociologists and other academic researchers are reluctant to use
online survey data.Cf. marketing research
Sample representativenessMostly non-probability sampling
Volunteers or convenience sampling
44Issues regarding RepresentativenessTwo points Decreasing
coverage error Self-selection bias remains and gains more
importance
Harris Interactives prediction on the US 2000 presidential
electionOnline panelists Reference survey based on probability
sampling towards the same target populationPropensity score
adjustment
Propensity Score AdjustmentMany studies since Harris
Interactives prediction (Schonlau et al., 2009; Lee & Valliant,
2009; Valliant & Dever, 2011) Studies in Korea (Kim & Lee,
2003; Lee & Jang, 2009; Huh and Cho, 2010)
Selection of variablesDetails about the selection of variables
for adjustment purposes often remain undisclosed.Unfeasible in
other research situationsInsufficient theoretical justification and
generalization
55Social Participation and Intent to Participate in Internet
Social SurveyThe Societal Trend Toward Self-Administration
(Dillman, 2000)
Strong belief in relationship between public opinion and
democracy
Civic duty and survey participation (e. g., Couper, Singer &
Kulka, 1998)
Topic interest and survey participation (Groves, Presser &
Dipko, 2004)
The impact of online activities on social/political
participation in Korea
66Social Participation and Social Survey ParticipationGroves,
Singer & Corning (2000) Leverage-Salience Theory
7
7Data
Social Survey 2009, Statistics Korea(formerly the National
Statistical Office, ROK)
Research Q
Who shows intent to participate in Internet surveys?
8
8 Intent to Participate in Internet SurveyMen + (vs. Women)
Education +
Employed + (vs. else)
Unmarried + (vs. married)
Internet newspaper reading frequency +
Non-political donation +
Social group participation +
Volunteering experience +9
Intent toParticipate in Internet Survey Those who expressed
intent to participate in internet survey are relatively:
Young
Well-educated
Often donate non-politically.
Participate in many social groups.
Volunteer often.
10
First, just with the demographic variables.
Next model includes Internet newspaper reading, donation
experience, group participation, and volunteering.
11
Logistic Regression of Intent to Participate in Internet
SurveysLogistic Regression of Intent to Participate in Internet
SurveysConfirms the results of previous descriptive analyses.
LR increases (SS).
Those who express intent to participate in Internet surveys
differ (from those who do NOT)
Demographically
; and also
By the degree of social participation.
Issues
Representativeness
Discrimination12
Implications for Issues of Internet
SurveysRepresentativeness
In addition to demographic variables and digital divide, diverse
social activities affect the intent.
Potential Discrimination
Socially-inactive groups may be undersampled. This may
potentially lead to discrimination against the less visible
groups.13
