The Drop-off and Pick-up Method: An Approach to Reduce Nonresponse Bias in Natural Resource Surveys

Abstract

Forestry researchers frequently conduct surveys to assess woodland owner attitudes, behavior, behavioral intentions, and program adoption. However, the ability to utilize survey results in applied research is dependent upon how accurately the sample respondents reflect the reference population. One major issue in survey research is nonresponse bias. Nonresponse bias occurs when individuals do not respond to a questionnaire and is a concern because of the potential inability to make accurate inferences to a population based on responses. Researchers in this study compare two methods of questionnaire distribution (Drop-off/Pick-up and the Tailored Design Method) in terms of cost effectiveness and response rate. When compared to the Tailored Design Method (TDM), use of the Drop-off/Pick-Up (DOPU) method resulted in significantly higher response rates, provided an alternative method by which to determine survey eligibility, and had significantly higher survey implementation costs. The DOPU technique is an effective means to reduce potential nonresponse bias through increased response rate. When implementing the DOPU method, face-to-face contact and verbal communication with respondents permitted researchers to better determine eligibility than did leaving the questionnaire on the doorknob. Relying solely on respondents to indicate ineligibility on the survey instrument was not as effective as verbal confirmation of eligibility in the DOPU.

Resident and user support for urban natural areas restoration practices

“…With the holiday season approaching, rather than continue on with another mailing, we resumed data collection efforts the following May using the Drop-off/Pick-up (DOPU) method (e.g., Steele et al, 2001). While considerably more labor intensive, this door-to-door method provides the opportunity for personal contact between the researcher and respondent, and has been shown to substantially increase response rates (Allred and Ross-Davis, 2011). This boosted our response rate to 13%, yielding a total sample of nearby residents of n=629 and per-site samples ranging from 33 to 88.…”

Compact Urban Form: Neighbouring and Social Activity

“…For each indicator, a set of questions were developed that enabled gaining detailed information about the inhabitant's neighbouring habits and behaviour. A household survey was conducted using the drop and collect method as it results in a higher response rate [91,92]. To have participants from different areas of neighbourhoods, a spatially stratified random sampling was applied based on urban blocks.…”

Investigating Challenges in Financing Contractors for Public Sector Projects in Ghana

“…Data was collected for a period of 20 days. Enumerators targeted owners or management members of the firms making use of drop-off and pick-up method [37]. This allowed respondents the options to either self-complete the questionnaire or interviewed in order to obtain high response rate.…”