Effects of Questionnaire Length, Respondent-Friendly Design, and a Difficult Question on Response Rates for Occupant-Addressed Census Mail Surveys

Abstract

An experimental study of alternatives to the current U.S. decennial census questionnaire shows that shortening the questionnaire and respondent-friendly questionnaire design improve response, whereas asking a potentially difficult and/or objectionable question, that is, social security number, lowers response. This national study of 17,000 household addresses also demonstrates that relatively high mail survey response can be achieved without addressing correspondence to individual names of residents.