Novel Methods and Application of Visualizing Web Survey Responses: Technology-Enhanced Quality Improvement in Surveys (TEQUIS)
摘要
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has made surveys easier to conduct. However, the data collected may show that the response rate in surveys may decline toward the latter half, as participants stop answering, or sometimes forget to answer the questions; the resultant missing data affects the quality of the survey results. We faced this impediment in our institutional research activities at a higher education institution, where we were involved in the tabulation and analysis of surveys targeting students. Therefore, recognizing the necessity to determine the reasons why questions are not answered and to adopt countermeasures, this paper visualizes the presence/absence of responses for each question by introducing two ways, i.e., heatmap style and bar chart style: Technology-Enhanced Quality Improvement in Surveys (TEQUIS). The application of TEQUIS to the dummy data of the questionnaire allowed us to discover problems with the questionnaire and to make suggestions for improvement. Visualization of the distribution of missing data makes it possible to share the shortcomings of the questionnaire among the parties involved. The two visualization methods presented in this paper, i.e., the heatmap and bar chart format diagrams could facilitate monitoring of the survey to ensure that it is not too long or difficult for participants to answer. This paper proposes to incorporate these methods of visualizing the presence/absence of answers to each question while checking the questionnaire to maintain and improve not only the quality of surveys, but also their outcomes.