Search

The effect of personalization on mail survey response rates was examined in nine studies that included 17 comparisons under several research conditions. A study of this variable across multiple experiments in five agricultural experiment stations was undertaken because of conflicting results from previous research and from concern that the effectiveness of personalization might have decreased over time. Results show that, while response to general public surveys appeared to increase modestly across all treatment groups, there was no positive effect for populations in which a group identity (e.g., Dear Oregon Gardner or Dear ATV Owner) is employed to address respondents in cover letters. Personalization appears to remain useful for improving response in surveys of the general public.

This study examines the effects of two different prominently displayed appeals in combination with two different prominently displayed confidentiality assurances on mail-back completion rates for census questionnaires. The experiment was carried out on a national probability sample of 30,000 household units, using occupant-addressed questionnaires that contained the content of the 1990 decennial census short form. Neither the benefits appeal nor the variation between two confidentiality assurances had a significant effect on completion rates. The mandatory appeal, however, significantly improved completion rates, even when it appeared on the envelope only., Why do people respond to surveys? A large literature (e.g., Dillman 1978; Groves, Cialdini, and Couper 1992) postulates that the norm of reciprocity plays a crucial motivational role in people's [...]

Past research suggests that mail surveys encourage a primacy effect, which is a tendency to choose the first answers from a list, whereas telephone surveys encourage a recency effect, a tendency to choose the last answers from a list. This paper summarizes results from 82 new experiments conducted in 12 separate surveys in seven states. Only four of 33 mail survey comparisons exhibited significant primacy effects, while five of 26 experiments in telephone surveys exhibited recency effects. In addition, only three of 23 cross-method comparisons produced a significant primacy/recency effect in the expected manner. The conclusion is that the prevalence of primacy and recency effects has been over-estimated by past research and a new theoretical approach that takes into account multiple causation is needed for examining these effects.

The Palouse and Camas prairies and the Columbia Plateau of north central Idaho, eastern Washington and northeastern Oregon have been identified by the 1980 RCA appraisal as one of the [...]

Editor's note: This essay is part of a series being published to help commemorate the Monthly Labor Review's centennial (July 1915-July 2015). The essays--written by eminent authorities and distinguished experts [...]

For reasons of cost and ease of implementation, mail surveys are more frequently used for social research than are either telephone or face-to-face interviews. In this chapter, the last two decades of research aimed at improving mail survey methods are examined. Discussion of this research is organized around progress made in overcoming four important sources of error: sampling, noncoverage, measurement, and nonresponse. Progress has been especially great in improving response rates as a means of reducing nonresponse error. Significant progress has also been made in finding means of overcoming measurement error. Because mail surveys generally present few, if any, special sampling error problems, little research in this area has been conducted. The lack of research on noncoverage issues is a major deficiency in research to date, and noncoverage error presents the most significant impediment to the increased use of mail surveys. The 1990s are likely to see increased research on mail surveys, as efforts are made to incorporate mail into cost-effective mixed mode designs.

In 1978, I authored a book, Mail and Telephone Surveys: The Total Design Method (Dillman 1978). According to the ISI Citation Indexes, it has now been cited in the scientific [...]

Review of past E-mail surveys indicates that a methodology to achieve consistently high response rates similar to those that can be obtained by traditional mail has not been developed. In addition, researchers have tended to use E-mail surveys only for populations with universal E-mail access. This study utilizes knowledge from past mail-survey research to develop an E-mail procedure. Further, an experiment is conducted to assess the potential for using a multimode strategy to obtain responses from individuals unreachable through E-mail. The multimode approach proved to be successful and techniques shown to be effective in standard mail surveys were also found to be appropriate for an E-mail survey., Introduction Electronic mail and the Internet provide a promising means for conducting future surveys as the proportion of people accessible through E-mail or the Internet continues to rise. It is [...]