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Title: Experimental Effects of Advance Postcards, Survey Title, Questionnaire Length, and Questionnaire Content on Response Rates and Incentive Costs in a Mail Non-Response Follow-Up Survey
A non-response follow-up study by mail in a national sample of U.S. households had five embedded experiments to test the effects of an advance mailing, alternate survey titles, 1- or 2-page questionnaire length, the inclusion or exclusion of political questions on the 1-page questionnaire, and the position of political content on the first or second page of the 2-page questionnaire. None of these design elements affected the payout of escalated postpaid incentives. Advance mailings had no effect on response rate. A short title (National Survey of Households) had a slightly higher response rate than a longer, more descriptive one (National Survey of Households, Families, and Covid-19). Political question content, whether by inclusion, exclusion, or position, had no discernable effect on response, even among prior-study non-respondents. Questionnaire length was inversely related to response: the 2-page questionnaire depressed the overall response rate by 3.7 points (58.5 compared to 54.8 percent, weighted) and depressed response for the critical sample group of prior non-respondents by 6.9 points (36.9 compared to 29.9).  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1835022
NSF-PAR ID:
10334062
Author(s) / Creator(s):
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Survey practice
ISSN:
2168-0094
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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