CAWI Research

The commonest type of survey run by Market Research agencies, including OnePoll, is online quantitative research (also known as Computer Aided Web Interviews or CAWI). Online research has largely replaced both door-to-door surveys and telephone surveys.

To investigate how the general public [or any sub-set of people, e.g. homeowners, pet owners, parents, etc] feel on a topic, CAWI is a fast, budget-friendly way of quizzing them.

As the internet is so pervasive, people are more accessible than ever. The UK Government report that 96% of households in Great Britain have internet access as of 2020[1], meaning that we can conduct online research and both reach a large number of respondents, as well as being able to reach a representative sample of adults in the UK. Although there are 4% who don’t respond to online surveys, we know enough about that 4% that we are able to replace [model] them in our samples with other individuals with the same demographics.

Some things it’s worth noting about CAWI research:

  • Speed is the name of the game – CAWI research is able to deliver data very fast [depending on the sample, it can be as little as just a few days]. Respondents are usually sourced from online access panels – people who have already signed up to take part in online surveys, meaning they are both eager and engaged, and surveys can be pushed out to them to boost response rate.
  • CAWI surveys can (OnePoll’s are) be optimised to work on mobile phones (or, if they install it, on our App). In the UK, this means people can respond while on the Underground. In many countries like China, they have skipped landlines and fixed internet and are “mobile dominant”: so CAWI via mobile telephony is preferred.
  • Costs are lower, where once interviewers had to either phone up or take to the streets in search of respondents, now the sample can be reached online, and in most cases are already signed up to a panel. Hence recruitment is easier, and people can take surveys at their convenience and because they want to do so.
  • Sample size – as we are reaching people online, we can quickly recruit samples of 1000 to 2000 adults, the sort of numbers favoured by the media. We are also able to recruit larger samples (e.g. 5000) if it is required.
  • Your surveys – your questions. In the past, Omnibus surveys were the most commonly sold survey type, due to the costs of reaching respondents. Omnibuses allowed different clients’ questions to be chained together: dividing the costs. Whilst some agencies still run an Omnibus, at OnePoll we will only ask one client’s questions per survey, meaning you won’t have to wait around and we can put your questions into field once you are happy with them, providing a more bespoke service.

Nationally Representative polls of UK adults are one of the most common CAWI samples. At OnePoll, we sample (and weight where relevant) to ensure that our quotas for age, gender, and region match government population figures so you can be assured that that figures for these surveys are representative of how the UK adults feel.

CAWI research is sometimes described as only being representative where a high level of internet usage is present. For example, in countries with lower internet penetration this may pose a challenge, or as certain groups are less likely to be connected to the internet (older respondents, or those in more rural areas).

However, both telephone research and face-to-face research face very similar obstacles. In fact, internet research is usually superior to the older methods for reaching respondents in rapidly developing 3rd world economies. E.g.: China is geographically vast, which hinders face-to-face, and has not got good landline coverage. Instead, China has chosen to “skip” to mobile telephony: which is suitable for CAWI.

Some CAWI work we have done includes:

Accor – Reviews and Reputation Research

Essity – Period Poverty – OnePoll Public Relations

Premier Comms/Saints Row – Youth Entrepreneurship Research

If respondents are niche or hard to reach, CAWI research is likely not the appropriate choice, and instead other methods should be considered. This is most usually Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing or CATI. You can read more about this type of research here.

 

[1]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/householdcharacteristics/homeinternetandsocialmediausage/bulletins/internetaccesshouseholdsandindividuals/2020