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German researchers develop quality standards for online studiesIt's easy to conduct surveys over the Internet using online forms. However, many online researchers do not take scientific research too seriously and publish results based on rather questionable methods.Four major German research associations have therefore developed joint quality standards for the technology of online surveys. These are intended to be helpful tools for those conducting scientific studies and to enable the commissioning parties to better assess the quality of the individual offerings.
The standards address in detail the design, conduct, presentation, interpretation, and documentation of the study. In any case, according to the authors of the standards, the study participants should be actively selected. General calls for participation, for example via banners or pop-up windows, do not meet the methodological requirements for scientific surveys, according to the standards. Self-selectivity could lead to sample bias in terms of sociodemographic and psychographic characteristics, because "professional" survey participants are usually overrepresented in passive recruitment.
The quality assurance standards for online surveys are now available at www.adm-ev.de. Clemens Hörler