Using Buttons as Response Options in Mobile Web Surveys

Abstract

Survey designers are starting to optimize online questionnaires for smartphones by enlarging the control elements used to accept answers (radio buttons and checkboxes) or by replacing these controls with alternatives such as stacked groups of wide buttons, but these approaches have not yet been carefully evaluated. In the lab experiment reported here, 61 older adults (age 59+) were randomly assigned to complete a survey on an iPhone with response options displayed either with conventional controls (radio buttons and checkboxes) or one of three contemporary formats: larger controls, larger controls enclosed in wide buttons, and wide buttons without any controls. The three optimization approaches were equally effective at improving respondents’ tapping accuracy but were not equally rated in post-survey evaluations. Respondents tended to prefer the larger HTML-style controls over wide buttons. The results suggest that one simple way for researchers to effectively optimize their questionnaires for smartphones is to increase the size of conventional input elements without changing their basic shape or design.