Response to mail surveys on resource‐based recreation topics: A behavioral model and an empirical analysis

Abstract

The ability to predict response rates to mail surveys is important in estimating sample size and in assessing the probable need for a nonrespondent follow‐up study to improve the accuracy of population estimates. Predictive models of response rates to mail surveys are scarce, and none has examined leisure or recreation resource‐related studies. This report starts with a behavioral model that takes the potential respondent's perspective. On the basis of the model, variables affecting response rates are hypothesized, operationalized, and tested in 38 studies, each of which used standard mail survey techniques including a cover letter, printed questionnaire booklet, and three reminder letters. Saliency of the topic in combination with the type of survey audience, the amount of hypothetical questions used, the number of pages, the height of the type used, and the month of survey implementation were all statistically significant predictors of response rate.