Sociology, Department of
Date of this Version
2011
Abstract
Nonresponse follow-up studies are often conducted to understand whether respondents and nonrespondents di er on survey variables of interest in sample surveys. Methods used to recruit respondents often di er between nonresponse follow-up studies and main studies. One method is persuasion letters sent from study sta to nonrespondents that are tailored to the types of concerns raised by the respondent and recorded in paradata about the survey recruitment process. This study examined whether tailored persuasion letters yield higher response rates in nonresponse follow-up and whether respondents to a nonresponse follow-up di er depending on the content of the persuasion letter. Nonrespondents to the University of Michigan Dioxin Exposure Study, a survey of adults conducted in 2004 and 2005 in five counties in Michigan, were randomly assigned to either an appeal to help the community or tailored types of persuasion letters. No di erence in response rates to the letter types was found, but meaningful di erences in the survey variables appeared between nonrespondents responding to the follow-up and respondents to the main interview. These di erences also occurred between the two groups receiving di erent types of letters. The community appeal letter appeared to address unvoiced concerns and brought a di erent sample of nonrespondents compared to the tailored letters
Comments
Published in Survey Research Methods (2011), Vol.5, No.1, pp. 21-26
ISSN 1864-3361 http://www.surveymethods.org
Copyright © 2011 European Survey Research Association.