Reducing Respondent Burden with Efficient Survey Invitation Design
Increasing costs of data collection and decreasing response rates in social surveys has led to a proliferation of mixed-mode and self-administered surveys. In this context the design and content of survey invitations is increasingly important as it influences propensities to participate. By reducin...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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European Survey Research Association
2021-08-01
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| Series: | Survey Research Methods |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://ojs.ub.uni-konstanz.de/srm/article/view/7777 |
| _version_ | 1811319993272369152 |
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| author | Hafsteinn Einarsson Alexandru Cernat Natalie Shlomo |
| author_facet | Hafsteinn Einarsson Alexandru Cernat Natalie Shlomo |
| author_sort | Hafsteinn Einarsson |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
Increasing costs of data collection and decreasing response rates in social surveys has led to a proliferation of mixed-mode and self-administered surveys. In this context the design and content of survey invitations is increasingly important as it influences propensities to participate. By reducing the respondents’ burden of engaging with the survey invitation survey organisations can streamline the participation process. Reducing respondent burden by efficient invitation design may increase the number of early responders, the number overall responses and reduce non-response bias. This study implemented a randomised experiment where two design features thought to be associated with respondent burden were randomly manipulated: the length of the text and the location of the survey invitation link. The experiment was carried out in a sequential mixed-mode survey among young adults (18-35-year-old) in Iceland, where design features (text length and survey link location) of mailed letters with links to a web survey were manipulated. Results show that participants are more likely to participate in the survey when they receive shorter survey invitation texts and with survey links in the middle Additionally, short letters with links in the middle perform well compared to other letter types in terms of non-response bias and mean squared error.
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| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T12:51:50Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-23dd21277f45467e85e94816ba763e8a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1864-3361 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T12:51:50Z |
| publishDate | 2021-08-01 |
| publisher | European Survey Research Association |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Survey Research Methods |
| spelling | doaj.art-23dd21277f45467e85e94816ba763e8a2022-12-22T02:46:10ZengEuropean Survey Research AssociationSurvey Research Methods1864-33612021-08-0115310.18148/srm/2021.v15i3.7777Reducing Respondent Burden with Efficient Survey Invitation DesignHafsteinn Einarsson0Alexandru Cernat1Natalie Shlomo 2University of ManchesterUniversity of ManchesterUniversity of Manchester Increasing costs of data collection and decreasing response rates in social surveys has led to a proliferation of mixed-mode and self-administered surveys. In this context the design and content of survey invitations is increasingly important as it influences propensities to participate. By reducing the respondents’ burden of engaging with the survey invitation survey organisations can streamline the participation process. Reducing respondent burden by efficient invitation design may increase the number of early responders, the number overall responses and reduce non-response bias. This study implemented a randomised experiment where two design features thought to be associated with respondent burden were randomly manipulated: the length of the text and the location of the survey invitation link. The experiment was carried out in a sequential mixed-mode survey among young adults (18-35-year-old) in Iceland, where design features (text length and survey link location) of mailed letters with links to a web survey were manipulated. Results show that participants are more likely to participate in the survey when they receive shorter survey invitation texts and with survey links in the middle Additionally, short letters with links in the middle perform well compared to other letter types in terms of non-response bias and mean squared error. https://ojs.ub.uni-konstanz.de/srm/article/view/7777Survey invitationsNon-responseData collectionMixed-modeInvitation letters |
| spellingShingle | Hafsteinn Einarsson Alexandru Cernat Natalie Shlomo Reducing Respondent Burden with Efficient Survey Invitation Design Survey Research Methods Survey invitations Non-response Data collection Mixed-mode Invitation letters |
| title | Reducing Respondent Burden with Efficient Survey Invitation Design |
| title_full | Reducing Respondent Burden with Efficient Survey Invitation Design |
| title_fullStr | Reducing Respondent Burden with Efficient Survey Invitation Design |
| title_full_unstemmed | Reducing Respondent Burden with Efficient Survey Invitation Design |
| title_short | Reducing Respondent Burden with Efficient Survey Invitation Design |
| title_sort | reducing respondent burden with efficient survey invitation design |
| topic | Survey invitations Non-response Data collection Mixed-mode Invitation letters |
| url | https://ojs.ub.uni-konstanz.de/srm/article/view/7777 |
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