TY - JOUR
T1 - Response rates for mail surveys of nonprofit organizations
T2 - A review and empirical test
AU - Hager, Mark A.
AU - Wilson, Sarah
AU - Pollak, Thomas H.
AU - Rooney, Patrick Michael
PY - 2003/6
Y1 - 2003/6
N2 - The failure of a substantial portion of mail survey recipients to respond to invitations to participate in research projects raises issues of nonresponse error. Because this error is difficult to quantify, survey researchers seek high rates of return to signal legitimacy and reduce questions regarding nonresponse bias. Research on survey method indicates that the design of the survey research process has a measurable influence on the rate of survey returns. This article focuses on three aspects of research design that are expected to influence mail survey returns in surveys of nonprofit organizations: questionnaire complexity, use of Federal Express versus standard mail, and the use of monetary incentives. Using an experimental design, the research concludes that questionnaire complexity and the use of monetary incentives generate no difference in returns, whereas the use of Federal Express to deliver the survey to nonprofit executives has a measurable positive effect.
AB - The failure of a substantial portion of mail survey recipients to respond to invitations to participate in research projects raises issues of nonresponse error. Because this error is difficult to quantify, survey researchers seek high rates of return to signal legitimacy and reduce questions regarding nonresponse bias. Research on survey method indicates that the design of the survey research process has a measurable influence on the rate of survey returns. This article focuses on three aspects of research design that are expected to influence mail survey returns in surveys of nonprofit organizations: questionnaire complexity, use of Federal Express versus standard mail, and the use of monetary incentives. Using an experimental design, the research concludes that questionnaire complexity and the use of monetary incentives generate no difference in returns, whereas the use of Federal Express to deliver the survey to nonprofit executives has a measurable positive effect.
KW - Nonprofit organizations
KW - Response rates
KW - Survey research
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0037505138&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0037505138&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0899764003032002005
DO - 10.1177/0899764003032002005
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0037505138
SN - 0899-7640
VL - 32
SP - 252
EP - 267
JO - Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly
JF - Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly
IS - 2
ER -