Circumventing Nonresponse - Upgrading Traditional Company Survey Data with Unobtrusive Data from Company Websites

To validate a survey of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), we tested the similarity between respondents and nonrespondents using traditional methods of supplemental data collection. Additionally we also applied mixed methods by enhancing the survey data with data obtained by a novel unobtrusive method: observation of company websites. The website data were obtained through human collection of characteristics of the homepage with observation of functional items that were coded and combined into an index for general website quality. Analysis of these data supported the validity of the original survey and exhibited a positive significant correlation between the survey index for use of information technology (IT) and the website quality index. The finding supports unobtrusive website observation as an appropriate data collection substitute.