The proliferation of smart, web-ready mobile devices continues unabated, and for many consumers these machines are replacing their desktop and laptop computers, which, until recently, were the primary means to collect online survey data. In 2011 the percentage of surveys being taken on mobile devices was less than 2 percent. However, the United States and other nations have experienced a major shift to a more mobile-centric culture since then. With this prolific adoption of mobile devices, CatalystMR is now seeing 25 to 30 percent of its online surveys being completed on mobile devices versus desktop and laptop computers. Coupled with the accelerated use of mobile devices to access e-mail, with 36 percent of all e-mails in the United States being opened on mobile devices (Knotice, Sept. 2012)9, a mobile data collection strategy must be at the forefront of consideration when conducting online research.

For data collection within the United States, consideration for feature phones (or nonsmart web-enabled devices) is not crucial because of dropping market share and consumer behavior differences. In the United States, those with nonsmart Internet-accessible phones don’t tend to surf the web or make purchases on their feature phones as compared to modern smartphones.

Because international smartphone adoption over feature phones has not been as rapid in many parts of the world due to cultural (Internet-accessible feature phones are popular) and economic differences, surveys being conducted abroad require special consideration and programming to allow feature phones to take online mobile surveys.

In other words, it’s more important to make the survey accessible to a feature phone in other parts of the world compared to North America and Europe. While there is a continued trend toward smartphone adoption internationally, in regions of the world such as Asia-Pacific and Latin America for example, the ownership and usage including Internet surfing and online purchasing of feature phones exceed that of smartphones and tablets. In these regions and most parts of the world with the exception of Europe and North America, consumers surf the Internet on full-featured phones.

Questions 

1. What are the major constraints associated with the use of mobile devices to complete surveys?

2. What are the major considerations regarding number of questions in survey length when designing surveys for mobile devices?

3. When considering administration of surveys on mobile devices, what are the considerations regarding question types, set up and logic?