Abstract
Conditional branching is used to direct respondents to skip inappropriate questions or to answer follow-up questions. When surveys are implemented on the World Wide Web, branching can be automated in different ways. Three implementations of conditional branching in Web-based surveys were compared: (a) a manual form which replicated the paper-and-pencil version in a scrollable window, (b) a semi-automatic form which also showed the whole survey but auto-scrolled to the next question, and (c) an automatic form that displayed only one item per screen and implemented all branching. The surveys used involved one, two, or three follow-up questions. The automatic item-by-item implementation proved significantly faster than either the manual or the auto-scrolling versions. Respondents found the auto-scrolling to be disorienting. These results suggest that automatic branching should be used but with graceful jumps that guide the respondents' focus of attention without loosing it.
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