Tone of postcards in increasing survey response rates

This study assessed differences in response rates to a series of three-wave mail surveys when amiable or insistently worded postcards were the third wave of the mailing. Three studies were conducted; one with a sample of 600 health commissioners, one with a sample of 680 vascular nurses, and one with 600 elementary school secretaries. The combined response rates for the first and second wave mailings were 65.8%, 67.6%, and 62.4%, respectively. A total of 308 amiable and 308 insistent postcards were sent randomly to nonrespondents as the third wave mailing. Overall, there were 41 amiable and 52 insistent postcards returned, not significantly different by chi-square test. However, a separate chi-square test for one of the three studies, the nurses' study, did find a significant difference in favor of the insistently worded postcards.     

A Comparison of Survey Data Collected by Regular Mail and Electronic Mail Questionnaires

A survey was conducted by the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME) to examine the telecommunications needs of the organization's membership. A component of this study permitted an examination of two response modalities (regular mail and e-mail) across a number of variables. Separate samples of 585 were drawn to take the survey. The first sample consisted of all those organization members who had registered their e-mail address with the organization while the second sample was randomly selected from those members who did not list an e-mail address. The first group was sent a nine question instrument via e-mail while the second group was asked to fill out a ten question instrument via regular mail. Overall response rates were low and significantly different [30% for the e-mail group and 36% for the regular mail group, ² (1) = 10.42, p < .01], though not uncommon for institutional surveys. Individual item response rates, however, were statistically significantly higher for the e-mail group across a number of dimensions. The results suggest that for some organizations, e-mail questionnaires may be a viable mechanism for conducting surveys. Suggestions are made on how to improve overall response rates.     

Survey return rates for multiple-authored versus single-authored covering letters

Differences in response rates to a three-wave mail survey were assessed when the covering letters were signed by three versus one researcher. 375 surveys including covering letters signed by three researchers and 375 surveys including covering letters signed by one researcher were sent. A follow-up mailing was used to increase the response rate. 199 surveys were returned (53.5%) in which the covering letter had three researchers, and 218 when the covering letter had one researcher (58.7%), not a significantly different distribution.     

Differences in responses to Web and paper surveys among school professionals

This experiment investigated the effects of survey administration mode (Web vs. paper and pencil) and survey length (short or long) on the responses of a large sample of primary and secondary school professionals in the U.S. The 812 participants in this study were part of an initial random sample of 1,000 individuals representing 5.81% of the membership of a national professional organization. The participants were randomly assigned to each of the four treatment conditions. Results indicated (1) substantially lower response rates for Web surveys than for same-length paper surveys; (2) a higher response rate for short surveys than for long surveys with paper, but not Web, questionnaires; and (3) a younger age for Web respondents, as compared with their paper counterparts. In light of prior research, we suggest that paper-and-pencil methods be used for surveying professionals in primary and secondary school settings.     

The effects of questionnaire length and lottery ticket inducement on the response rate in mail surveys

Abstract

As part of a study on functional gastrointestinal disorders in the Australian community, we surveyed 500 subjects to test the effects of questionnaire length and lottery inducement on the response rate in mail surveys. By random allocation, n = 124 subjects received a short form questionnaire (28 pages) with a lottery ticket, n = 126 received a short form with no lottery ticket, n= 124 received a long form (32 pages) with a lottery ticket and n= 126 received a long form with no lottery ticket. The overall response rate for the study was 74%. The response rates for the short (76.8%) versus long (71.2%) form and lottery ticket (74.2%) versus no lottery ticket (73.8%) were not significantly different. Significantly more short forms compared with longer forms were received after each stage of the follow-up protocol. A long questionnaire can however be successfully used in survey research.     

Response rate,speed, and completeness: A comparison of Internet-based and mail surveys

Because of their speed and accessibility, the use of on-line research tools has grown considerably in recent years. The present study compared two ways of delivering surveys: Internet-based and mail delivery methods. Although Internet-basedand mail surveys achieved a similar response rate, Internet-based surveys may be more effective than mail surveys in a setting such as when the target population has both e-mail and Internet access.     

Sampling the Reluctant Participant: A Random‐Sample Response‐Rate Study of Men and Sexual Coercion1

Past research has documented the difficulty associated with mail surveys in general, and with the rates of male participation, especially if the topic involves sensitive materials. Our study varied incentive value and whether participants received a letter of introduction. We adopted most of the stringent survey‐design characteristics recommended by Dillman (1991). The results suggest that a letter of introduction significantly increased the response rate. Additionally, a smaller monetary incentive did as well as did a larger one. Despite a maximum participation rate of only 22%, the sample was successful in representing men across the age span. Some important differences from men in the general population were found on demographic and attitudinal variables, however, the generalizability was still improved well beyond the college male.     

German Abstract

The magnitude of the cultivation effect for perceptual estimates of social reality has been shown to be affected by a number of contextual factors such as source priming and motivation to process information during judgment construction, and these contextual factors have been linked to the use of heuristic processing strategies when constructing judgments of frequency and probability ( L. J. Shrum, in press ). An experiment that manipulated data collection method explored the implications of these findings. A random sample of general population respondents were randomly assigned to either telephone or mail survey conditions. Because telephone surveys generally result in greater heuristic processing than mail surveys, telephone surveys were expected to produce larger cultivation effects than mail surveys. Results showed that not only were the magnitude of the estimates of affluence, crime, vice, marital discord, and occupations generally greater in the telephone than in the mail survey but the correlation of the estimates with amount of viewing was also greater in the telephone than in the mail survey. The implications for measuring the cultivation effect are discussed.     

Believe it or not! longer questionnaires have lower response rates

The effects of questionnaire length on response rate and response bias were examined by conducting a mail survey of 8534 persons taking distance education courses in insurance and financial planning. In 14 replications, persons were randomly assigned to receive a long or short course evaluation questionnaire. Response rate for the short form averaged about 28% higher than for the long form, and was significantly higher in all 14 replications. A measure of course satisfaction appearing on both questionnaires showed no significant differences between the long and short form in 12 of the 14 replications. The results suggested that biased measurement of consumer satisfaction does not necessarily occur on a long questionnaire with a relatively low response rate.     

An exploration of prevalence of domestic violence in same-sex relationships

The prevalence of domestic violence in a sample of 33 men and 33 women currently or previously in same-sex relationships was assessed. Data were collected through a mail survey in the state of Virginia. Of 1000 surveys sent out 66 usable ones were returned (response rate = 6.6%). Analysis indicated that 34 had experienced some form of domestic violence, but significant differences between male and female respondents were not detected. When data from this same-sex sample were compared with those of the heterosexual sample of the National Violence Against Women Survey, intimate partner assault may be more prevalent against gay men than against heterosexual men, but there was no significant difference between lesbians and heterosexual females.     

EFFECTS OF REINFORCEMENT CHOICE ON TASK RESPONDING IN INDIVIDUALS WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES

The effects of reinforcement choice on task performance were examined with 6 individuals who had been diagnosed with severe to profound mental retardation. Five highly preferred items were identified for each participant via stimulus preference assessments. Participants then were exposed to choice and no-choice conditions that were alternated within reversal and multielement designs. During choice sessions, participants were permitted to select between two preferred stimuli contingent on responding. During no-choice sessions, the therapist delivered a single item contingent on responding. Preference for the stimuli was held constant across conditions by yoking the items delivered during no-choice sessions to those selected during the immediately preceding choice sessions. All participants exhibited similar rates of responding across choice and no-choice conditions. These findings indicate that for individuals with severe disabilities, access to choice may not improve task performance when highly preferred items are already incorporated into instructional programs.     

Context extinction following conditioning with delayed reward enhances subsequent instrumental responding

In Experiment 1, delayed reward generated low response rates relative to immediate reward delivered with the same frequency. Lister rats exposed to delayed reward subsequently responded at a higher rate in extinction if they received nonreinforced exposure to the conditioning context after instrumental training and prior to test, compared with animals that received home cage exposure. In Experiment 2, a signaled delay of reinforcement resulted in higher rates than an unsignaled delay. Nonreinforced exposure to the conditioning context elevated response rate for subjects in the unsignaled condition relative to a home cage group, but had no effect on response rates for subjects that had received the signaled delay. In Experiment 3, following an unsignaled reinforcement delay, groups receiving either no event or signaled food in the context responded faster in extinction than groups receiving no context exposure or unsignaled food.     

A randomized trial comparing the efficacy of cognitive-behavioral therapy for bulimia nervosa delivered via telemedicine versus face-to-face

OBJECTIVE: A major problem in the delivery of mental health services is the lack of availability of empirically supported treatment, particularly in rural areas. To date no studies have evaluated the administration of an empirically supported manual-based psychotherapy for a psychiatric condition via telemedicine. The aim of this study was to compare the relative efficacy and acceptability of a manual-based cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for bulimia nervosa (BN) delivered in person to a comparable therapy delivered via telemedicine. METHOD: One hundred twenty-eight adults meeting DSM-IV criteria for BN or eating disorder-not otherwise specified with binge eating or purging at least once per week were recruited through referrals from clinicians and media advertisements in the targeted geographical areas. Participants were randomly assigned to receive 20 sessions of manual-based, CBT for BN over 16 weeks delivered either face-to-face (FTF-CBT) or via telemedicine (TV-CBT) by trained therapists. The primary outcome measures were binge eating and purging frequency as assessed by interview at the end of treatment, and again at 3- and 12-month follow-ups. Secondary outcome measures included other bulimic symptoms and changes in mood. RESULTS: Retention in treatment was comparable for TV-CBT and FTF-CBT. Abstinence rates at end-of-treatment were generally slightly higher for FTF-CBT compared with TV-CBT, but differences were not statistically significant. FTF-CBT patients also experienced significantly greater reductions in eating disordered cognitions and interview-assessed depression. However, the differences overall were few in number and of marginal clinical significance. CONCLUSIONS: CBT for BN delivered via telemedicine was both acceptable to participants and roughly equivalent in outcome to therapy delivered in person.     

Factors influencing therapist selection among gays,lesbians and bisexuals

For this study 609 gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals were surveyed with respect to openness about sexual orientation and preference for a therapist with a particular sexual orientation. Other factors considered important in selecting a therapist such as licensure, referral source, gender, cost and specialty were also examined. Data for this study was collected using two different methods. In the first method, data was collected from respondents subscribing to internet listervers serving gay, lesbian and bisexual subscribers. In the second, more traditional method, surveys were distributed by mail or hand delivered to various organizations serving gay, lesbian, and bisexual communities in two southwestern states. Findings suggest that significantly more lesbians than gay men and bisexuals in the e-mail sample prefer a therapist of the same sexual orientation. No significant relationships were found between degree of openness and importance of the therapist's sexual orientation. Other factors related to therapist preference were explored, and results are discussed.     

TelEMA: a low-cost and user-friendly telephone assessment platform

Ecological momentary assessment (EMA), or the repeated assessment of individuals’ behaviors and experiences over time, is a methodologically advantageous approach to the study of psychological constructs. Recently, advances in computer technology have allowed for EMA research to be conducted in a more convenient, automated, and secure manner by administering surveys on participants’ telephones and storing the results directly to a central server. The present article introduces TelEMA, an easy-to-use, low-cost telephone assessment platform for clinical and research applications. A single server running TelEMA can be shared among many experimenters, studies, and participants simultaneously. TelEMA routes telephone calls and text messages through a third-party service, so experimenters may conduct studies with no up-front cost or technical expertise. TelEMA provides a secure Web interface for experimenters or clinicians to design studies, enroll participants, monitor compliance, and collate response data from anywhere. Participants complete surveys using their own telephones. Surveys may contain keypress or voice recording questions, and the timing and content of each survey may be randomized and customized. A pilot study was conducted in which individuals used the TelEMA system to complete four randomly timed surveys per day for one week; the surveys assessed state affect and social anxiety. Results indicated that participants found TelEMA easy to use and secure, and compliance rates were on par with other EMA methods using mobile devices. Overall, TelEMA is a practical and robust system that enables fast and inexpensive deployment of EMAs.     

Effects of reinforcer consumption and magnitude on response rates during noncontingent reinforcement

Results of previous research on the effects of noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) have been inconsistent when magnitude of reinforcement was manipulated. We attempted to clarify the influence of NCR magnitude by including additional controls. In Study 1, we examined the effects of reinforcer consumption time by comparing the same magnitude of NCR when session time was and was not corrected to account for reinforcer consumption. Lower response rates were observed when session time was not corrected, indicating that reinforcer consumption can suppress response rates. In Study 2, we first selected varying reinforcer magnitudes (small, medium, and large) on the basis of corrected response rates observed during a contingent reinforcement condition and then compared the effects of these magnitudes during NCR. One participant exhibited lower response rates when large-magnitude reinforcers were delivered; the other ceased responding altogether even when small-magnitude reinforcers were delivered. We also compared the effects of the same NCR magnitude (medium) during 10-min and 30-min sessions. Lower response rates were observed during 30-min sessions, indicating that the number of reinforcers consumed across a session can have the same effect as the number consumed per reinforcer delivery. These findings indicate that, even when response rate is corrected to account for reinforcer consumption, larger magnitudes of NCR (defined on either a per-delivery or per-session basis) result in lower response rates than do smaller magnitudes.     

Acquisition of a spatially defined operant with delayed reinforcement.

Two experiments investigated the role of an immediate, response-produced auditory stimulus during acquisition, via delayed reinforcement, of a response selected to control for possible unprogrammed, operandum-related sources of response feedback. Experimentally naive rats were exposed to a delayed-food reinforcement condition, specifically a tandem fixed-ratio 1 differential-reinforcement-of-other-behavior 30-s schedule. The response was defined as breaking a photocell beam located near the ceiling at the rear of the operant conditioning chamber. In Experiment 1, rates of photobeam breaking by each rat increased from near zero, regardless of the presence or absence of a tone that immediately followed the response initiating the delay interval. Though not essential, the tone facilitated response acquisition and resulted in more efficient response patterns at stability. Experiment 2 demonstrated that photobeam-breaking response rates under the delayed reinforcement contingency exceeded those in a preceding baseline condition in which no food was delivered. In addition, upon introduction of the delayed reinforcement procedure, correspondence between response patterns and the requirements of the reinforcement schedule increased over baseline levels in the absence of a food contingency. Together with a previous report of Lattal and Gleeson (1990), the present results suggest that response acquisition with delayed reinforcement is a robust phenomenon that may not depend on a mechanically defined response or an immediate external stimulus change to mediate the temporal gap between response and reinforcer.     

PROMPTING TECHNIQUES TO INCREASE THE RETURN RATE OF MAILED QUESTIONNAIRES1

To increase the return rate of questionnaires mailed to clergy and physicians concerning their mental-health practices, different prompts were used after the questionnaire was received during four mail-outs to four randomly drawn samples of clergy and physicians. For each mail-out, the sample was divided into experimental (received prompt) and comparison (no prompt) groups, and one type of prompt or combination was used. Non-returnees of the questionnaire in the experimental group received either: (a) a single telephone call, (b) a memo, (c) a package (personal letter and new questionnaire) or package plus a telephone call, or (d) a double call. Comparison physicians and clergy were mailed only the original questionnaire. Relative to their respective comparison group's return rate, which averaged 22% across the four mail-outs (range 18% to 24%), the single call and package alone about doubled the overall return rate, the package and call increased the return rate about two-and-a-half fold, and the double call almost tripled the return rate. The memo was ineffective. A cost-effectiveness analysis indicated that the double-call procedure was less expensive than the single call, and much less expensive than the package alone or package with a call in securing returns. An analysis of the pattern of returns showed clearly that when prompts were not delivered (comparison groups), very few returns were received after about seven days from the initial mail-out. Most returns from prompts (experimental groups) were received by several days after the prompt. The results were seen as salient to the problem of reducing selection or volunteer bias in questionnaire studies and subsequent research demonstrating the effectiveness of telephone calls made about a week after distribution of surveys in securing high return rates was discussed.     

Job burnout: toward an integration of two dominant resource-based models

The goal of this study was to integrate the job demands-resources model and the conservation of resources model of job burnout into a unified theoretical framework. The data were collected through a mail questionnaire survey among nurses holding managerial positions in the Hospital Authority of Hong Kong. From a computer-generated random sample of nurses, 543 (84.3% women) returned usable surveys, amounting to a response rate of 24.2%. Structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed paths originating from job demands and job resources to the core job burnout dimensions, namely, emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. Results supported the integrated model, indicating that job demands and job resources had differing effects on the burnout dimensions. The effect of job demands was stronger and partially mediated the effect of job resources. Implications of the results from this study on management practices were discussed.     

Ethicists’ and Nonethicists’ Responsiveness to Student E‐mails: Relationships Among Expressed Normative Attitude,Self‐Described Behavior,and Empirically Observed Behavior

Do professional ethicists behave any morally better than other professors do? Do they show any greater consistency between their normative attitudes and their behavior? In response to a survey question, a large majority of professors (83 percent of ethicists, 83 percent of nonethicist philosophers, and 85 percent of nonphilosophers) expressed the view that “not consistently responding to student e‐mails” is morally bad. A similarly large majority of professors claimed to respond to at least 95 percent of student e‐mails. These professors, and others, were sent three e‐mails designed to look like queries from students. Ethicists’ e‐mail response rates were not significantly different from the other two groups’. Expressed normative view correlated with self‐estimated rate of e‐mail responsiveness, especially among the ethicists. Empirically measured e‐mail responsiveness, however, was at best weakly correlated with self‐estimated e‐mail responsiveness; and professors’ expressed normative attitude was not significantly correlated with empirically measured e‐mail responsiveness for any of the three groups.