In Response to Laura's Post...

Do you think that people are more likely to be honest in online, mailed or face-to-face surveys? Why?

Laura made some good points in her argument about surveys. I also agree with you that there are always going to be the people who are dishonest on there surveys. Whether they are just filling out the survey to be eligible for a possible prize or even if the person is just bored filling out random answers. Today when I was shopping for my trip to California I bought some new headphones from best buy. When the cashier finally tendered by order, she gave me the receipt saying "if possible please go to the website on the receipt and fill out the survey. You will be eligible for a cash prize if you fill out the survey." I see a couple things wrong with this reward system. I feel as though the people who think the reward is worth taking the time to fill out the survey will be the only respondents. Since only the select people who think the prize is worth the survey will be measured, makes the survey somewhat inaccurate. Referring back to the question, I believe it depends on the situation to whether or not people will more honest on a survey. For example, if you are having a face-to-face survey, and you have nothing truly bad to say, then the person will be 100% honest. But, at the same time if the customer is nervous to give negative feedback they may be dishonest in their answer. I think the mail-in survey would be the most valuable for a company. The person would have to take the time to fill it out and mail it in. If this customer has negative feedback, they may feel better without being confrontational (face-to-face). The only reason why I do not believe people will be as honest with online surveys is because people can just "click away". By click away, I mean that anyone on the Internet, bored or not, can just click a million random answers and then just click the submit button. On top of that this person would be able to easily fill out more than one of the same survey and keep submitting them. I do believe that the mail-in surveys are the surveys where most people will be honest. Do you think it is worth having an online survey with more customer feedback is more beneficial than mail-in surveys with less customer feedback? Do you believe the online surveys could be from one person taking the survey multiple times?