Advantages:
  • Normal deployment of online [desktop/laptop] surveys – no additional formatting required
  • Programming costs are comparable to those of online surveys
  • Possible expansion of intended audience to include mobile browser users
Disadvantages:
  • Surveys may not be viewable without additional effort of pinching, scrolling or zooming
  • Question completion may require zooming first in order to select desired response
  • Various question types (e.g. multiple choice, lists) will not generally take advantage of the smartphone’s native features (i.e. spin wheels)
  • Higher survey drop-offs/longer completion times may result due to increased navigation burden required to answer questions
  • Persistent internet connection needed to complete survey
  • Loading times may be increased for pages with images/graphics or large grids
  • Volume of data transferred is likely to be larger than necessary (potential threat to smartphone data-plan quotas)
  • A server must generate each subsequent survey page and data exchanges occur with each new page
  • Longer surveys may be difficult to process due to the form factor and the internet lag