Response Rate in Mail Survey:: The Effect of Four Variables

• Autor(a) principal: Velôso Gouveia, Valdiney
• Data de Publicação: 2012
• Outros Autores: Günther, Hartmut
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Psicologia (Universidade de Brasília. Online)
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.unb.br/index.php/revistaptp/article/view/17244
• topic: Técnicas; Questionário; Correio; Techniques; Questionnaire; Mail

The present study investigated the effectiveness of mail survey technique in collecting data in Brasília, capitalcity of Brazil. Using a random sample of 480 addresses, the effects of four variables on the response rate were studied: (1)phone contact with the respondent, (2) type of the envelope used, (3) content of the introductory letter, and (4) saliency ofquestionnaire topic. The overall response rate was 21.5%, increasing to 30% when respondents were contacted by phone, eitherbefore or after the questionnaire had been mailed. The other variables had no significant influence on the response rate, and nointeraction effects between variables were observed. It was concluded that mail survey technique is an adequate procedure incollecting data amoung the population studied; however, additional studies are necessary to determine which other factorscontribute to an increase in voluntary response rates in the Brazilian milieu.