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OBJECTIVE: This exploratory study examined potential mode effects
(web versus U.S. mail) in a mixed mode design survey of alcohol use at eight
U.S. colleges. METHODS: Randomly selected students from eight U.S. colleges
were invited to participate in a self-administered survey on their alcohol use
in the spring of 2002. Data were collected initially by web survey (n=2619)
and non-responders to this mode were mailed a hardcopy survey (n=628). RESULTS:
College students who were male, living on-campus and under 21 years of age were
significantly more likely to complete the initial web survey. Multivariate analyses
revealed few substantive differences between survey modality and alcohol use
measures. CONCLUSIONS: The findings from this study provide preliminary evidence
that web and mail surveys produce comparable estimates of alcohol use in a non-randomized
mixed mode design. The results suggest that mixed mode survey designs could
be effective at reaching certain college sub-populations and improving overall
response rate while maintaining valid measurement of alcohol use. Web surveys
are gaining popularity in survey research and more work is needed to examine
whether these results can extend to web surveys generally or are specific to
mixed mode designs.
Keywords: Alcohol, Binge drinking
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