A Comparative Study of Research Methodology: A comparison of paper based surveys delivered viadirect mail with web based surveys delivered viaemail using a sample population of engineers.

The Internet has become a powerful tool for gatheringdata, communicating, and processing of transactionsglobally. It has also become a major market researchtool used by commercial market research firms todistribute surveys to various populations. Researchto date has focused on comparing response rate,response speed, and cost of direct mail andelectronic mail delivered surveys. This bookpresents and discusses the results of a researchstudy that directly compares response rates andresponse distributions to self-administeredquestionnaires delivered to a population of designengineers using both direct mail and electronic maildelivery media. Additional information is presentedthat discusses tests of the effects of credentials,and incentives on response rates for direct mailsurveys.