Mode of questionnaire administration can have serious effects on data quality

One of the main primary data collection instruments in social, health and epidemiological research is the survey questionnaire. Modes of data collection by questionnaire differ in several ways, including the method of contacting respondents, the medium of delivering the questionnaire to respondents, and the administration of the questions. These are likely to have different effects on the quality of the data collected.

This paper is based on a narrative review of systematic and non-systematic searches of the literature on the effects of mode of questionnaire administration on data quality.