Influence of an Invitation to Answer by Telephone on Response to Census Questionnaires

Dillman, Don A.; West, Kirsten; Clark, Jon R.

doi:10.1086/269447

Cited by 36 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Most respondents, when asked whether they would prefer to answer survey questions in person, on the telephone, by mail, or by Web, report a mode preference. We refer to "mode preference" as a positive view toward participating in a particular mode rather than "mode choice," the mode one selects when given multiple options Dillman, West, and Clark 1994;Levenstein 2009;Shih and Fan 2002). Respondents express their preference to participate in face-to-face interviews (Groves and Kahn 1979), telephone surveys (Smyth, Olson, and Richards 2009), mail surveys (Gilbert 2009;Levenstein 2009;Millar, O'Neill, and Dillman 2009;Miller et al 2002;Tarnai and Paxson 2004), and Web surveys (Gilbert 2009;Miller et al 2002;Ryan et al 2002;Tarnai and Paxson 2004).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Giving People Their Preferred Survey Mode Actually Increase Survey Participation Rates? An Experimental Examination

Olson

Smyth

Wood

2012

Public Opinion Quarterly

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Survey research has long grappled with the concept of survey mode preference: the idea that a respondent may prefer to participate in one survey mode over another. This article experimentally examines the effect of mode preference on response, contact, and cooperation rates; mode choice; and data collection efficiency. Respondents to a 2008 telephone survey (n = 1,811; AAPOR RR3 = 38 percent) were asked their mode preference for future survey participation. These respondents were subsequently followed up in 2009 with two independent survey requests. The first follow-up survey request was another telephone survey (n = 548; AAPOR RR2 = 55.5 percent). In the second follow-up survey (n = 565; AAPOR RR2 = 46.0 percent), respondents were randomly assigned to one of four mode treatments: Web only, mail only, Web followed by mail, and mail followed by Web. We find that mode preference predicts participation in Web and phone modes, cooperation in phone mode (where contact and cooperation can be disentangled), and the selection of a mode when given the option of two modes. We find weak and mixed evidence about the relationship between mode preference and reduction of field effort. We discuss the important implications these findings have for mixed mode surveys.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Giving People Their Preferred Survey Mode Actually Increase Survey Participation Rates? An Experimental Examination

Olson

Smyth

Wood

2012

Public Opinion Quarterly

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“…The interviewee had to turn on the computer, connect to the Internet, type the web site, and enter the ID number to get identified. Many of the interviewees decide to postpone answering, and this produced ''a break in the response process'' (Dillman et al, 1994;Griffin et al, 2001). This ''break in the response process'' (Griffin et al, 2001) on many occasions results in failure to answer, as some respondents forget or lose interest.…”

Section: Response Ratementioning

confidence: 99%

Response Quality of Self-Administered Questionnaires

Igúzquiza

Domínguez-Álvarez

2013

Social Science Computer Review

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The objective of this article is to analyze the quality of the information collected by a self-administered survey addressed to citizens of Andalusia, who were offered the possibility of answering using the post or Internet. The study showed the advantages of using web-based self-administered questionnaires. Web surveys showed a low number of unanswered questions, more detailed answers to open questions, and longer answers to questions than those generated from paper questionnaires. The five open questions with text showed longer answers from the web survey, around 63 characters more. In the open questions with numerical answers, the use of drop-box (select list) generated better response than the use of a blank space left in the paper questionnaire.

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“…However, most survey researchers do not have a measure of sample members' mode preferences prior to conducting their surveys, making assignment of a 'preferred mode' difficult. Instead, survey organizations draw on conventional wisdom about which demographic groups prefer particular modes (e.g., young people will prefer web), sometimes using studies that look at which groups choose which mode when offered a choice between two modes as guidance (e.g., Denniston et al, 2000;Dillman et al, 1994;Dillman et al, 2009;Diment and Garrett-Jones, 2007;Shih and Fan, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying predictors of survey mode preference

Smyth

Olson

Millar

2014

Social Science Research

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To increase the likelihood of response, many survey organizations attempt to provide sample members with a mode they are thought to prefer. Mode assignment is typically based on conventional wisdom or results from mode choice studies that presented only limited options. In this paper we draw heavily on research and theory from the mode effects and the survey participation literatures to develop a framework for understanding what characteristics should predict mode preferences. We then test these characteristics using data from two different surveys. We find that measures of familiarity with and access to a mode are the strongest predictors of mode preference and measures of safety concerns, physical abilities, and normative concerns are unexpectedly weak predictors. Our findings suggest that variables that may exist on sample frames can be used to inform the assignment of "preferred" modes to sample members.

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Influence of an Invitation to Answer by Telephone on Response to Census Questionnaires

Cited by 36 publications

References 5 publications

Does Giving People Their Preferred Survey Mode Actually Increase Survey Participation Rates? An Experimental Examination

Does Giving People Their Preferred Survey Mode Actually Increase Survey Participation Rates? An Experimental Examination

Response Quality of Self-Administered Questionnaires

Identifying predictors of survey mode preference

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