Personalizing Mail Questionnaire Correspondence

In their efforts to increase response rates for mail questionnaire surveys, researchers have explored the effectiveness of a wide range of variables, including the number and timing of mailings,' cash or prize incentives,2 stamped versus metered reply envelopes,3 printed versus mimeographed questionnaire forms, and various forms and wordings of cover letters.4 Many of these techniques are in fact designed to personalize the communication between the researcher and the respondent. The (often unstated) assumption is that the more the respondent feels his unique answers to be important, the more likely he is to fill in and return the questionnaire. In a recent attempt to explore systematically the effect of personalization on response rate, Simon found that a personally typed letter sent to the general public in two studies tended to increase the response rate by 7 and 8 per cent over a form letter.5 In these same two studies, personally typed letters to employees yielded mixed results. In one case, the response rate among employees improved marginally while in the other it declined. In a third study of hospital insurance subscribers, Simon achieved a 15 per cent greater response rate from his personally typed letter. Simon, however, concludes that . . per

Internet privacy · Computer Science · Focus Groups and Qualitative Methods · Psychology · Survey Methodology and Nonresponse

• Methods to increase response to postal and electronic questionnaires

  Phil Edwards, Philip James Edwards et al.•Cochrane Database of Systematic…•2009

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• Personalization of Mail Surveys

  Open Access•Margaret Rucker, Rhonda Hughes et al.•Educational and Psychological…•1984

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• Mail Survey Response Rates

  Open Access•Nancy M Rudd, Nan L Maxwell•Psychological Reports•1980

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• Relative Effectiveness of Personalized and Form Covering Letters in Initial and Follow-up Mail Surveys

  Open Access•Blaine R Worthen, Rebecca W Valcarce•Psychological Reports•1985

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• Increasing response rates in physicians' mail surveys

  Brigitte Maheux, Claudine Legault et al.•American Journal of Public Health•1989

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• Effects of repetition and consistency of personalization treatments on response rate in mail surveys

  Open Access•Anton J Nederhof•Social Science Research•1983

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• Mail Survey Response Rate

  Richard J Fox, Melvin R Crask et al.•Public Opinion Quarterly•1988

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• Are "Bulk-Rate Occupants" Really Unresponsive

  Jerome B Kernan•Public Opinion Quarterly•1971

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• Generalizing Mail Survey Inducement Methods

  Wesley H Jones•Public Opinion Quarterly•1979

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• Effects of Personal Salutations in E-mail Invitations to Participate in a Web Survey

  Dirk Heerwegh•Public Opinion Quarterly•2005

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• Making Errors in Surveys

  Open Access•Duane F Alwin•Sociological Methods & Research•1977

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• Personalization of Mail Surveys for General Public and Populations with a Group Identity

  Open Access•Don A Dillman, Virginia Lesser et al.•Rural Sociology•2007

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