Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of Portland, 5000 N. Willamette Blvd., Portland, OR 97203, United States.
Soc Sci Res. 2012 Nov;41(6):1404-14. doi: 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2012.06.004. Epub 2012 Jun 27.
Coverage and response rate challenges facing telephone and internet surveys have encouraged scientists to reconsider mail data collection methods. Although response rates to telephone surveys have declined sharply in the last 20years, it is unclear how response rates to mail have fared during this time. This study analyzes 179 mail-back surveys of visitors to US National Parks from 1988 to 2007, which used virtually the same administration procedures throughout the period. Results show that response rates, based on only those who initially agreed to return a questionnaire, have remained at a high level with a 76% average while the number of questions and pages steadily increased. Despite this rise in response burden, rates have declined only moderately from about 80% in the late 1980s to about 70% more recently. The roles of additional contacts and survey salience in maintaining high response rates are examined. Results suggest that mail-back surveys for obtaining information from quasi-general public populations remain an effective data collection procedure.
电话和网络调查的覆盖范围和响应率挑战促使科学家重新考虑邮件数据收集方法。尽管在过去的 20 年中，电话调查的响应率急剧下降，但尚不清楚在此期间邮件的响应率如何。本研究分析了 1988 年至 2007 年期间对美国国家公园游客进行的 179 次邮件回复调查，这些调查在整个期间几乎使用了相同的管理程序。结果表明，基于最初同意返回问卷的人的响应率一直保持在较高水平，平均为 76%，而问题和页面的数量稳步增加。尽管响应负担增加，但响应率仅从 20 世纪 80 年代末的约 80%适度下降到最近的约 70%。还研究了其他联系人和调查显著性在维持高响应率方面的作用。结果表明，从准普通公众群体中获取信息的邮件回复调查仍然是一种有效的数据收集程序。
