Abstract:

This paper reviews - after a short discussion on the suitability and application of mail surveys in industrial research - a number of possibilities to increase the quality of mail-survey-response, both in terms of completeness and of extent. It reports on an experiment carried out to establish the effect on response rate of three such measures: implied anonymity, personalised cover letters, and stamped return envelopes. Apart from the actual results, the paper also presents a cost-evaluation of the three measures taken. Finally, some conclusions are drawn for practical use in the execution of industrial mail surveys.