Using HTML for an Online Survey of Risk Perception: An Experience Study

Abstract

It is desirable to discover more about how much risk people perceive in everyday life and actions. Because the Internet is growing so fast, a survey on the World Wide Web might be a possible way to meet this desire. This study investigated using such an Internet survey, administered through an Internet web server, HTML, and a web browser. The online risk-perception survey had fifteen paired-comparison questions. It can be reviewed and taken at URL: http://www.sct.edu/sct/departments/cs/classes/webwork/rpsurvey.html Each pair had one common member, namely “Driving for an hour on suburban roads and highways.” The common member of the pair was always presented first. Two classes at Southern Polytechnic were invited to take the survey. Six responses were received from the 25 potential respondents. The low response-rate (24%) and overall results indicate that using HTML surveys on the web is more suitable for conveniently automating only the data collection rather than automating the total administration of a risk-perception survey. It is recommended that, within limits, surveys on the web can be an effective tool for assessing risk perception.