Industrial Mail Surveys-Brm Research Study.

8/6/2019 Industrial Mail Surveys-Brm Research Study.

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EFFECTIVENESS OF SURVEYSMAILED,FAXED,INTERVIEWED,ADVANCE NOTIFIED SURVEYS & THEIR

RESPONSIVENESS.

GUIDED BY-PROF. R.N. SUBUDHI

RAJESH GANGULY10202123,MBA-1,B


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Advance Correspondence and Error in Mail SurveysBY BRUCE J. WALKER and RICHARD K. BURDICK*,Journal of Marketing Research Vol. XIV (August

1977), 379-82.

Study suggest that advance correspondence produces a higher response rate, but at a highercost per usable return, than using no advance correspondence.

Two forms of advance correspondence, postcard and letter, produced approximately

equal response rates but the advance postcard had a lower cost per usable return.

The findings are discussed in the context of mean square error to illustrate that the

researcher ordinarily must be concerned about both response rate and number of returns

when designing a survey.

HYPOTHESIS-

H1-ADVANCE POST CARDS REDUCES REPLY TIME.

H2-MAIL SURVEYS ARE REGARDED AS JUNK MAIL.

H3-COST OF DELIVERY IS SAME IN BOTH .

H4-a) CONTROL GROUP RESPONSES AND POST CARD REPIES ARE SAME.

b) ADVANCE POST CARD RESPONSE TIME IS MINIMUM.


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CONCLUSION-

On the basis of the findings reported herein, this researcher would use some form of advance

correspondence to increase response rate.

Furthermore, the results indicate that, in comparison with the advance letter, the advance

postcard would produce (1) approximately the same response rate and (2) a greater number of

returns within the same budget because of its lower cost per usable return.

A very inexpensive technique such as a personal signature on the cover letter substantially

increased the level of response. So, advance letter are a preferred choice to managers.


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Fax Surveys: Return Patterns and Comparison With Mail SurveysJOHN P. DICKSON and DOUGLAS L. MACLACHLAN ,Journal of Marketing Research Vol, XXXIII

(February 1996), 108-113.

It Investigate response patterns to fax surveys in comparison with mail surveys and explore therelative advantages and disadvantages of the two methods. The results of two studies show that

the answers to questions sent by fax were comparable to those received by mail, but they were

received more quickly and in greater numbers. For many types of surveys that otherwise would

have used mail, using fax machines can yield higher returns at lower cost per returned

questionnaire.

HYPOTHESIS-

Three hypotheses are,

H|: Responses occur faster for those people contacted by fax than for those contacted through

the mail,

H2: The response rate (percentage returned within some interval of time) is higher for people

contacted by fax than for those contacted through the mail,

H3: There is no difference in the nature, that is, means of the answers to questionnaire items

and other known characteristics (e.g., distance from surveyor, size of firm), of the responses

between people contacted by fax and those contacted by mail.


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CONCLUSION-

Studies show that fax surveys can be superior to mail surveys under the appropriate conditions.

Fax surveys can provide faster and higher response rates without reducing data quality. Fax

surveys can also be cheaper than mail surveys, because transmission costs are lower and less

outbound paper is handled. For the studies reported here, we estimate that costs per returned

questionnaire in the fax condition were less than one-fourth of the comparable costs for the

mail condition.

Although it is premature to view fax surveys as a practical method for collecting data from

consumer households, it can and does serve as a means for collecting survey research in the

industrial, commercial, and institutional arenas. Despite the limitations of fax surveys,

organizations doing surveysespecially those for which information gathering time is of critical

importanceshould consider the fax as a strong competitor to the mail.


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AN EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF DROP-OFF

QUESTIONNAIRE DELIVERYCHRISTOPHER H. LOVELOCK, RONALD STIFF, DAVID CULLWICK, and IRA M. KAUFMAN

Journal of Marketing Research Vol. XIII (November 1976), 358-64.

Personal delivery (and collection) of self-administered questionnaires is evaluated in

comparison with alternative methods of obtaining information from respondents.

For lengthy questionnaires, personal delivery by lightly trained survey takers appears to

yield higher response rates than mail surveys at competitive costs; it also provides for more

precisely controlled samples and clearer identification of the nature of non-response bias.

This method is particularly appropriate for conducting detailed surveys of consumer attitudes

and behavior patterns in an era of rapidly rising postage costs. This report describes and evaluatesthe effectiveness of an approach in which questionnaires designed for self administration are delivered and

collected personally rather than by mail.

METHOD-

Mailing one questionnaire - A single questionnaire was mailed to each household sampled.

Subsequently, a reminder postcard and a phone call were used as follow ups.

Mailing two questionnaires -This method was identicalto the first except that two

questionnaires were mailed to each household with the request that they be completed by two

adults, if possible.


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Personal drop off and pickup - Two questionnaires were delivered to a household during

afternoon or evening hours. The survey taker briefly described the survey, obtained the subject's

cooperation, and arranged a return visit in two day's time for the collection of the completed

questionnaires. If the questionnaires were not completed by this time, the survey taker paid a

third visit four days later. Stamped addressed envelopes then were left at households where

subjects had yet to complete the questionnaire.

PROPOSED HYPOTHESIS

H(1)-The response rates are identical in all three cases.

NON-RESPONSIVENESS

H(2)- nonresponsive of interviewee depends-

A) Busy schedule.

B) Lazy towards long page fill-ups.

H(3)- Advance notification up the tempo of responses.

H(4)-Personal drop off and pick up trained surveys are rated high.

CONCLUSION

Personal delivery and collection of self-administered questionnaires appears to be a particularlyappropriate method in surveys involving long and possibly complex questionnaires, requiring both

substantial unit mailing expenses and significant effort for respondents to complete.

The indications are that personal delivery, by lightly trained survey takers, can be expected to

yield higher response rates than mail delivery at competitive cost per completed response.

Another appealing aspect of this approach is the greater control it gives over sample design. It

permits tight, complete, and up-to-date identification of subjects geographic locations as well as selective

elimination of subjects outside the predefined sample frame on demographic, behavioral, or objectownership criteria.


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Industrial Mail Surveys: The Costs and Benefits of Telephone Pre-notification

by Vincent-Wayne Mitchell and Sarah Nugent , journal of marketing

management,1991,7,257-269.

Over the past 5 years a trend towards increased usage of mail surveys has beenidentified and the reasons for this as well as the advantages of mail surveys are discussed.

Low response rates form the major disadvantage of the technique and advantages of

pre-notification which can help to increase response rates are discussed.

A limited number of studies exist on the effect of pre-notification and its associated

costs and benefits. This paper reports the results of an experimental study on telephone pre-

notification within the industrial sector (n = 235).

Results showed that a significantly higher (14%) response rate was achieved when individuals

were pre-notified, but there was no significant difference between the groups which were

contacted directly and indirectly.

OBJECTIVES-

Objective 1: to research further the effects of telephone pre-notification in industrialpopulations.

Objective 2: to examine the effects of time of day and day of week on the success of pre-

contacting and to document why unsuccessful calls failed.

Objective 3: to uncover the relationship between call duration and probability of reply.

Objective 4: to determine, as accurately as possible, the various costs and benefits associated

with telephone pre-notification.


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HYPOTHESIS-

(HI) The response rate of respondents who were pre-contacted will be significantly higher than

the control group.

Quality of response was considered in two studies and Hansen et al.'s (1983) results

showed that "significantly more individuals in the 'reached-directly' group offered written

comments than their indirect pre-notification counterparts" (p. 168).

This difference gives rise to the hypothesis that,

(H2) there will be a significantly higher response rate from those individuals who were

contacted directly.

Neither study considers the time of the response. One of the major drawbacks of mail

surveys is the 2-4 week time delay in receiving the responses. Anything which might reduce

response time would be of interest. We measured response times of the experimental and

control groups and proposed the hypotheses that,

(H3) the pre-notification group will respond significantly more quickly, and

(H4) individuals who were contacted directly will reply significantly more quickly than those who

were left a message.

(H5) no hour slot will be significantly more successful, and

(H6) the least successful days will be Monday and Friday.

(H7) the cost per contact in the morning will be significantly greater than in the

afternoon.


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MethodologyThe population under study was local authority planning departments. The latest available

directory was obtained and a population of 235, having planning functions, was used in the study.

An eight-sided questionnaire was mailed out 1 week after completion of the telephone pre-

notification which was carried out during a 2-week period in March 19,

A total of 159 people were pre-notified, 87 of whom were spoken to directly. The Lunchtimehours of 12.00 to 2.00p.m. were avoided, and calls took place between 9.00 a.m. and midday, and 2.00p.m.

and 5.(K)p.m.

FINDINGS-

The results shown in Table 4, when analyzed using a Chi-squared (x^) test gave a x"^ value of 4-35, which is

significant at the 5% level, therefore HI can be accepted.

The response rate from pre-notified individuals is significantly higher than the control group. The

14% increase as a result of telephone pre-notification is comparable with the 17 4% observed by

Jobberetai(1985), but less than the average of 24% achieved when consumer and industrial studies are

taken together {Schlegelmilch and Diamantopoulos 1989).

A significantly higher (14%) response rate was achieved when individuals were pre-notified by

telephone, but there was no significant difference between the groups which were pre-notified directly or

indirectly.

This led to the suggestion that call-backs may not be worthwhile. The increase of 14% compares

favourably with the other industrial study to use telephone pre-notification which reported a 17% increase.

However, it is substantially less than the average increase when consumer and industrial studies

are considered together, which has been calculated at 24% (Schlegelmilch and Diamantopoulos 1989), Little

difference (two days), and no statistical difference, was found in speed of response between the pre-notified

and control groups, which is in contrast to Dillman and Frey (1974) who did find that telephone prenotification increased the speed of response in a consumer study.


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CONCLUSION-

These findings highlight the problems of simply transferring tried and tested consumer

methodologies into the industrial market.

The time of day, and day of week, had no significant effect on the success of pre-

contacting except of Fridays, 4,00 to 5,00 p,m, when success rates were drastically reduced.

The major reasons for unsuccessful calls were "out", "meetings", "on the telephone

anci "unavailable".

Return times were shortest for the group contacted directly and longest for the

control group, but the 2 day difference was statistically insignificant, A call duration of 4-5 to 6-5

minutes appeared to give the highest response rate with longer calls showing a marked decline

in success. This hints at the possibility of there being an optimum call length.

Cost increases of over 100% per return were associated with the telephone pre-

notification technique.


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TOP MANAGER RESPONSES TO ORGANIZATIONAL SURVEYS:

WHEN QUESTIONING EXECUTIVES, ARE NETWORKS THE ANSWER?BY-CYNTHIA S. CYCYOTA ,U.S. Air force Academy ,E-Mail: [email protected] & DAVID A.

HARRISON , The Pennsylvania State University.

Academy of Management Proceedings 2002 RM.

To understand organizations, it is critical to collect data from the people who lead them: top

managers or executives. In short, researchers need to obtain evidence directly from executives

about their organizations, to study how organizations operate.

Mailed surveys and resultant response rates from individual-level populations have received a

great deal of attention & establish a benchmark of expected response rates for mailed surveys in

consumer or employee populations.

In this paper, it tried to answer two questions about executive response rates in mailed surveys.

1-What are the typical response rates that researchers have received in the past?

2-Is there systematic variation in past executive response rates that could be exploited by

researchers or that could provide for more efficient data collection?

HYPOTHESIS-

On basis ofTime, Type of Executive and Human Capital

Hypothesis 1: The response rate for mailed surveys in executive populations are declining

monotonically over time.

Hypothesis 2: Surveys mailed to the CEO will have lower response rates than those mailed to

other types of executives.


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On the basis of Topic Salience and Involvement-

Hypothesis 3: Survey topics with potential for higher executive involvement will generate higher

response rates.

On the basis ofResponse Rate Enhancement Techniques and Social Exchange-

Hypotheses 4a-d. Inclusion of (a) an incentive, (b) advance notice to executive, (c) follow-upcontact after mail date, and (d) personalization of the survey and cover letter will increase the

likelihood of executive response to mailed surveys.

On the basis ofSample Screening and "Negotiated Populations-

Hypothesis 5: Prior screening of executive samples will generate higher reported response rates.

On the basis ofSocial Networks and Trust-Hypothesis 6. Sponsorship (and therefore access) by a member of the executive's or firm's social

network will increase the likelihood of response to mailed surveys.

CONCLUSION

Our study shows that using traditional techniques to improve data gathering from

executives might not be as efficient or as effective as management researchers have assumed.There is no evidence that some of the expensive procedures (advance notice, follow-

up, personalization) inherent in trying to build a social exchange relationship with survey

respondents actually work in executive populations.

However, the need for information from top managers to answer research questions remains.

It is clear that the substantially lower response rates among executive populations

requires a greater distribution costs (mailing to a larger target sample) if management

researchers want sample sizes that support reliable substantive conclusions.

Industrial Mail Surveys-Brm Research Study.

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