| Client side paradata have recently been introduced into
the field of web surveying and provide an interesting extension of the already
known and widely used server side paradata. Client side paradata enable
researchers to detect how people progress through a web questionnaire by
logging every user action (e.g. selecting response options) together with
a high-precision timestamp. We will briefly explain how web surveys can
be enabled to collect client side paradata, and then move on to an overview
of some of the possible uses of client side paradata. Whenever possible,
we will present empirical research where client side paradata have been
used to study a variety of methodological issues such as satisficing, committing
navigational errors in a questionnaire, attitude strength, response format
induced respondent burden, etc. We will show that client side paradata are
at times indispensable to provide detailed answers to important methodological
questions.
presentation Heerwegh
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