Comparison of the quality of qualitative data obtained through telephone, postal and email surveys

Many claims have been made about the advantages of conducting surveys on the web. However, some concerns have been raised about the quality of the information gathered through this medium. The purpose of this research was to compare the quality of qualitative information obtained using three data-collection methods, in the context of the development of a scale for the measurement of corporate image. First, a study was carried out to generate a list of items that could be used to describe all elements of the corporate image of three firms as perceived by consumers. Different lists of items were obtained from telephone, postal and web-based surveys. Next, a qualitative study was conducted to assess the predictive validity of the lists of items obtained from each data-collection method. The results showed that the quality of qualitative data obtained through a web-based survey was comparable to that of information obtained through telephone and postal surveys, for two of the three target firms.