Advice in Surveying the General Public Over the Internet

The first decade of this century in Web surveying is likely to be recalled as a time of much uncertainty on whether random samples of the general public could be surveyed effectively over the Internet. A significant proportion of households in most countries are not connected to the Internet, and within households some members lack the Internet skills or frequency of use needed for responding to survey requests. In addition, households without Internet access differ sharply from those with it. Non-Internet households are older, have less education, and lower incomes. Their inclusion in surveys is critical for producing acceptable population estimates, especially for public policy purposes.