The biggest advantage of online research is that the participants can respond to the questions in the environment and time that are most convenient for them, which is makes this method relatively cheap and fast. As with all methods of course, this has limits too. For example, it is not suitable for representative nationwide research.
However, if the target is a smaller, well-defined internet-using social group (such as the clients of a provider), online polling could be considerably more advantageous than the in-person or telephone versions. Furthermore, with the use of hypertext and multimedia elements, the survey can become more stimulating for the participants, therefore increasing their motivation and engagement with the survey.
