Further Evidence on Factors Affecting Response Rates to Mailed Questionnaires

NASA/DoD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project, Paper Three: The Impact of a Sponsor Letter on Mail Survey Response Rates

“…They found that ten variables including government sponsorship and the total number of contacts, could predict response rates. Goyder (1982) replicated the research of Heberlein and Baumgartner and found essentially the same results. Eichner and Habermehl (1981) were not able to replicate the results in their analysis of mail surveys conducted in…”

How Important are High Response Rates for College Surveys?

“…Leverage-saliency theory posits that when deciding to participate individuals assess a survey's features (e.g., topic, monetary incentive, organization) and their prominence in the request to participate (Groves, Singer, & Corning, 2000). Therefore, the effort exerted by a survey researcher plays a significant role in whether an individual participates in the survey, as incentives, customizing recruitment messages, and increasing the number of survey invitations generally improves response rates (Goyder 1982;Groves, Presser, & Dipko, 2004;Heberlein & Baumgartner, 1978). Thus, a survey's response rate is a product of the characteristics of potential respondents, the survey, and their interactions.…”

Motivating residents to combat invasive species on private lands: social norms and community reciprocity

“…Approximately 83% of residents who completed the survey reported that they had been recruited for participation by researchers at a community meeting or public location; the majority of the remaining respondents reported that they were recruited for participation by a friend (11%). The relatively low response rate given in-person recruitment may have been because of the fact that the population consists of only a small percentage of residents with advanced degrees, and low education populations have been shown to have reduced response rates in other studies (Goyder 1982). Alternatively, the low response rate may have been because of particular attitudes of the population.…”