A comparative study on the mobile vs stationary internet as a survey tool

There is an increasing need to use mobile Internet as a research tool as wireless technology has been developing rapidly. However, little research has been conducted to confirm methodological validity of mobile Internet survey. This study examines the possibility of using mobile Internet as a survey tool by comparing survey results of mobile and stationary Internet surveys with the same questionnaire. The results were analyzed from both economic and theoretical perspectives. Both mobile and stationary Internet survey sites were implemented with supports from domestic mobile and stationary Internet portals and telecommunication companies. The results show that there exist several differences between the two survey methods. First, many respondents who use mobile Internet gave up at the early stage. However, once people continued to respond, they answered the questions to the end. Second, means and standard deviations of mobile respondents were higher than that of stationary Internet. Third, the results of the two survey methods were significantly different by comparing construct validity that includes both discriminant validity and convergent validity. Finally, this paper ends with implications and limitations of using mobile Internet as a survey tool.