Survey textbooks suggest that long questionnaires should be avoided, and a careful reading of the available empirical evidence confirms the negative effects of substantial length on both response rates and the quality of those responses which are obtained. (1978). Public Opinion Quarterly 47: 36–53. Brendan Burchell & Catherine Marsh, 1992. New York: Wiley. The current randomized trial was undertaken to compare the effect of four different incentive types and two questionnaire lengths on the response rates of a primary care population to a survey about bowel cancer screening. Ferber, R. (1966). In general population surveys, response to postal questionnaires may be improved by reducing their length and offering incentives. Analysis of reasons for nonresponse to this survey suggest that length may indeed have been a significant disincentive to respond for many. Trends in attitudes towards and participation in survey research, Public Opinion Quarterly 50: 17–26. Public Opinion Quarterly 38: 113–123. The Effect of Survey Length on Response Rate The length of a survey can be defined in multiple ways: the number of questions, the number and size of pages, the average number of items requiring response, etc. Schleifer, S. (1986). The Effects of Lottery Incentive and Length of Questionnaire on Health Survey Response Rates: A Randomized Study. Explanations for unemployment in Britain. If you originally registered with a username please use that to sign in. Journal of Marketing Research XX: 36–44. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of questionnaire length, personalisation and reminder type on postal survey response rate and quality and to compare the cost-effectiveness of the alternative survey strategies. ), Handbook of Survey Research. This study replicated a ground-breaking study conducted in 2004 by Sandra Rathod and Andrea la Bruna which concluded, among other things, that data quality suffers as interview length increases. Festinger, L. and Katz, D. (1965). This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access. Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout. (eds. Yu, J. and Cooper, H. (1983). The aim of this study was to examine the effect of questionnaire length, personalisation and reminder type on postal survey response rate and quality and to compare the cost-effectiveness of the alternative survey strategies. This paper investigates how expected and actual questionnaire length affects cooperation rates and a variety of indicators of data quality in web surveys. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of questionnaire length, personalisation and reminder type on postal survey response rate and quality and to compare the cost-effectiveness of the alternative survey strategies. Roper, B. Don't already have an Oxford Academic account? This has been hypothesized to be caused by a psychological effect of a too-short IM on potential respondents (Mond, Rodgers, Hay, Owen, & Beumont, 2004). The effect of questionnaire length on survey response. Each of these response scales has its own advantages and disadvantages, but the rule of thumb is that the best response scale to use is the one which can be easily understood by respondents and interpreted by the researcher. Survey procedures for supplementing mortality statistics. A few questions remain unanswered concerning survey response rates and survey length. Immediate online access to all issues from 2019. Public Opinion Quarterly 30: 399–415. Mail and Telephone Surveys: The Total Design Method. Downloads: (external link) Jamshid S Kalantar, Nicholas J Talley Volume 52, Issue 11, Pages 1117-1122 (November 1999) Journal of Clinical Epidemiology. Qual Quant 26, 233–244 (1992). Unexpectedly, the variance in number of responses was greater when the questions were asked later in the questionnaire. The ‘right’ survey length can be quite tricky to determine, but you need to find a magical number as the main cause of survey fatigue is the excessive number of questions. (1982). Bradburn, N. (1977). 1, pp. Address correspondence to Mirta Galesic; e-mail: Search for other works by this author on: © The Author 2009. Respondents answering items that are included in … Although the effects on response rate of monetary incentives and questionnaire length have been tested in isolation, their combined effect has not been previously evaluated. Sharp, L. M. and Frankel, J. Ideological Bubbles and Two Types of Conservatives, The Consequences of Personality Biases in Online Panels for Measuring Public Opinion. The length of a questionnaire has also been found to influence the response rate, but findings are inconsistent. Construct validity and error components of survey measures: a structural modelling approach. We aimed to evaluate the effects of lottery incentive and length of questionnaire on health survey response rates when used in isolation or combined. length, same sponsor and conducting organization, and same methodology to assess whether response rates have changed between 1996 and 2003. Year 2010. Improving participation rates in epidemiologic studies using questionnaires and biological sampling is important for the generalizability of the outcome. Cannell, C. F. and Kahn, R. L. (1968). Step 1) Measure the Length of Your Survey. Introduction: Web-based epidemiologic surveys are being widely used, but still present lower response rates compared to traditional methods.Their design can influence survey response rates. The blocks were randomized for each respondent so that the effect of survey length on response quality could be investigated by comparing whether the different order of the blocks led to different response patterns as the block position varied in the survey. In our study, however, 20 min was the stated length for both questionnaires. PubMed Fourth, we explored the impact of various aspects of survey administration on response rates and related rates in RDD telephone surveys. US Department of Health, Education and Welfare, National Center for Health Services Research, Health Survey Research Methods, Research Proceedings from the 2nd Biennial Conference, Publication No (PHS) 79-3207: 49–53. The effects of information quantity on crowdfunding performance," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. New York: Academic Press. Gibson, D. M. and Aitkenhead, W. (1983). Earlier studies suggest that response rates decrease once length exceeds 12 pages [ 2 ], while more recent research suggests no effect of … Effect of survey design factors on response rate. American Journal of Public Health 50: 1753–1764. In order to more fully understand the possible effects of survey length, fatigue, and subsequent response quality, SSI recently fielded two surveys: one long and one short. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Association for Public Opinion Research. Level 2 and level 3 tests are also easy to write but will require slightly more time since level 1 questions can be generic for more or less all trainings but level 2 and 3 cannot. The effects of the survey design factors on response were examined using multivariate logistic regression. Data is … Effects of alternative positioning of open-ended questions in multiple-choice questionnaires. Questionnaire length and response rate. Effect of questionnaire length, personalisation and reminder type on response rate to a complex postal survey: randomised controlled trial S. Sahlqvist, Y. Although frequently used, entry into a prize draw did not increase response. DOAJ is an online directory that indexes and provides access to quality open access, peer-reviewed journals. Mirta Galesic, Michael Bosnjak, Effects of Questionnaire Length on Participation and Indicators of Response Quality in a Web Survey, Public Opinion Quarterly, Volume 73, Issue 2, Summer 2009, Pages 349–360, https://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfp031. (2001). Beebe et al. The interactive effects of monetary incentive justification and questionnaire length on mail survey response rates. 2016; 16 :94. doi: 10.1186/s12874-016-0201-8. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 2011. (1983). Effect of questionnaire length, personalisation and reminder type on response rate to a complex postal survey: randomised controlled trial BMC Medical Research Methodology, 2011 Yena Song For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org. Response bias is a general term for a wide range of tendencies for participants to respond inaccurately or falsely to questions. A response tendency resulting from the length of a group-administered questionnaire instrument is described. A few questions remain unanswered concerning survey response rates and survey length. The length of a questionnaire is important because it can directly affect response rates, survey costs, and data quality. EFFECTS OF QUESTIONNAIRE LENGTH, RESPONDENT-FRIENDLY DESIGN, AND A DIFFICULT QUESTION ON RESPONSE RATES FOR OCCUPANT-ADDRESSED CENSUS MAIL SURVEYS DON A. DILLMAN, DON A. DILLMAN professor and director The Social Economic Sciences Research Center, Washington State University, and senior survey methodologist at the U.S. Bureau of the Census. New York: Academic Press. Study Design and Setting: A postal four double-page questionnaire on end-of-life decision making was sent to a random sample of 1,100 general practitioners, 400 … Journal of the Royal Statistical Society 124: 143–206. Rossi, P. H., Wright, J. D. and Anderson, A. (1983). Respondent burden. The length of a questionnaire is important because it can directly affect response rates, survey costs, and data quality. Introduction: Web-based epidemiologic surveys are being widely used, but still present lower response rates compared to traditional methods.Their design can influence survey response rates. Ultimately, the length of a survey is a matter of perception. B. Blass T, Leichtman SR, Brown RA. Social and Political Sciences Department, University of Cambridge, Free School Lane, Cambridge, Faculty of Economic and Social Studies, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, You can also search for this author in Public Opinion Quarterly 48: 409–442. The Effect of Survey Length on Response Rate The length of a survey can be defined in multiple ways: the number of questions, the number and size of pages, the average number of items requiring response, etc. Objectives: To examine the effect of reducing questionnaire length on the response rate in a physician survey. Methods in Social Research. The length of the questionnaire (four pages vs. seven pages) did not influence response. In M. F. D. Young (ed. Participants who received the short version of the questionnaire were more likely to respond (OR=1.48, 95% CI 1.06 to 2.07). Sheth, J. N., Roscoe, A. M. and Talbert, T. L. (1973). To test these assumptions, we manipulated the stated length (10, 20, and 30 minutes) and the position of questions in an online questionnaire consisting of randomly ordered blocks of thematically related questions. Population census: some recent British developments in methodology. Journal of Applied Psychology 60: 774–776. Moreover, the serial position of questions was predicted to influence four indicators of data quality. Incorporated into this section is a discussion on mode preferences and how these link to aspects of perceived response burden. Results: An overall response rate of 17% was achieved. Handbook of Survey Research. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society (A) 136: 505–538. The effect of questionnaire length on survey response. Fatigue Effects. A quantitative review of research design effects on response rates to questionnaires. Ball State University. A., Carpenter, E. H. and Brooks, R. M. (1974). Hanson, R. H. and Marks, E. S. (1958). In P. Rossi et al. Data is presented from a lengthy survey in Britain in 1987. Quality and Quantity Survey Research, 2nd edition. volume 26, pages233–244(1992)Cite this article. (1970). Morton-Williams, J. and Young, P. (1986). 16, No. Participants who received the short version of the questionnaire were more likely to respond (OR = 1.48, 95% CI 1.06 to 2.07). However, no effect of length was found on item quality as measured by the number of responses given to open-ended questions. Interviewing. Discovering interviewer bias in open-ended responses. Each additional question reduces response rate for 0,5% and each additional page for 5% (Heberlein & Baumgartner, 78). Subscription will auto renew annually. Sheatsley, P. B. Courtenay, G. (1978). London: Heinemann. London: McGraw-Hill. Furnham, A. Emma Adams. European Journal of Social Psychology 12: 335–352. We aimed to evaluate the effects of lottery incentive and length of questionnaire on health survey response rates when used in isolation or combined. Mail surveys: can segmentation and experimentation improve them? Vol II (2nd ed). In E. G. Hoinville and R. Jowell (eds. Response Effects in Surveys: a Review and Synthesis. Paul M. Biner. The aim was also to investigate any interaction effects between, questionnaire length, incentive type, and participant demographic characteristics. The response options for each question in your survey may include a dichotomous, a three-point, a five-point, a seven-point or a semantic differential scale. Access date 16.05.2014. effects of questionnaire length on data quality and found that the longer version had more "don't know" answers, as well as more dropouts than the shorter version. Objective: Analyse the influence of questionnaire length, frequency of reminders, and the interaction between them, on the response rates of five web-based questionnaires. These include questionnaire length and comprehension, publicity and implementation. 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