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Improving response rates to mail surveys: A research note.

Article Excerpt
Abstract

Transportation and logistics researchers frequently use mail surveys to collect data. Since 1992, authors of articles published in the Transportation Journal have mailed 106,300 questionnaires to transportation and logistics professionals to support their research. Further, there is evidence that response rates have been declining since 1992. Toward improving response rates to mail surveys, this research note presents a content analysis of all Transportation Journal articles that reported mail surveys, .from 1992 to 2003, along with the results of a "survey on surveys." The implications include guidelines for researchers considering data collection via mail survey.

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This note is an analysis of mail surveys in transportation and logistics research, with special reference to the Transportation Journal. It is timely and important for at least three reasons: First, transportation and logistics researchers frequently use mail surveys to collect data. Forty percent of articles published in the Transportation Journal (TJ) during the last twelve years reported mail survey results. Second, there is evidence that response rates to mail surveys in transportation and logistics research are declining. Third, response rates are a prime determinant of external validity in survey research. An analysis of mail survey procedures and outcomes should help researchers improve response rates in the future.

The next section is a brief literature review on mail surveys in logistics research and response inducement techniques. The third section is a content analysis of all TJ articles reporting mail surveys, from 1992-2003. Response rates and inducement techniques are the focus of this content analysis. Section four reports the results of a "survey on surveys," which the authors administered in tandem with a response rate experiment. Finally, the fifth section discusses implications of the empirical results and offers suggestions for survey researchers.

BACKGROUND ON MAIL SURVEYS

According to Murphy et al. (1992, p. 52), "mail surveys are a popular and recognized technique for collecting information in transportation research." However, in the transportation and logistics literature, there have been calls for more case studies--and fewer surveys. For example, Chow et al. (1994, p. 22) suggest, "The predominance of the mail survey as a data collection method ... raises some concern in light of its inherent limitations." They urge journal editors to encourage use of alternative methods, such as the case study.

Low response rates and non-response bias are ongoing concerns in conducting mail surveys (Greer et al. 2000). According to Jobber et al. (1988), fear of low response rates to mail surveys has compelled some researchers to use telephone surveys instead. Williams (1997) calls for use of the telephone as an alternative to mail for survey research, since the phone offers a means to counter non-response bias. Williams also concludes, "The telephone survey method is most appropriate for meeting the challenge of the Seven Rs of logistics research" (pp. 229-230). The Seven Rs involve "the challenge of contacting the right person with the right information at the right time in order to ask the right questions using the right instrument for the collection of the right data at the right cost" (p. 221).

On the other hand, there are many advantages of data collection by mail survey, including geographic flexibility, time convenience for respondents, elimination of interviewer bias, and low cost compared to phone or face-to-face methods (Fox et al. 1998). According to Lambert and Harrington (1990), "The most common protection against non-response bias is to attempt to increase the response rate." Response inducement techniques include pre-notification of survey recipients, personalization of survey mailings, monetary...