Maximizing the response rate in surveys may be a mistake |
| |
| Affiliation: | 1. School of Sociology, University of New South Wales, P.O. Box 1, Kensington, New South Wales, Australia 2033;2. Nepean College of Advanced Education, Australia;1. Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York;2. Department of Hematology and Oncology, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York;3. Department of Biostatistics and Computational Biology, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York;1. Division of Otolaryngology, Sharp Rees-Stealy Medical Group, 10243 Genetic Center Drive, San Diego, CA, 92121, USA;2. Clinical Informaticist, Rady Children''s Hospital-San Diego, 3020 Children''s Way, San Diego, CA, 92123, USA;1. Reproductive Endocrinology Division, Department of Mother and Child Health, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy;2. Department of Ob/GYN, University of Pisa, Italy;3. Department of Ob/GYN, Columbia University, New York, NY;1. State Key Laboratory of Organic–Inorganic Composites, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, PR China;2. Beijing Laboratory of Biomedical Materials, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, PR China |
| |
| Abstract: | A random postal sample of 400 Australians was carried out with the assistance of two conventional response-rate maximization techniques: a preliminary letter and a second mailing of the questionnaire aimed at non-respondents to the first questionnaire. The response-rate enhancement techniques appeared to have doubled the response rate from a usual 25% for a one-wave mailing to 47% on the present occasion. The present data, however, showed severe effects of acquiescent response bias (‘saying yes to anything’), thus severely damaging the meaningfulness of the results. It is concluded that the use of response-rate enhancement techniques is not only unnecessary but is also in fact counter-productive. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
| 本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录！ |
|
