REVIEWS OF BOOKS ON FO RECASTING Principles of Forecasting Web Site

Chapter 1 consists mostly of puffery about “Total Design Method” (TDM). Dillman implies that TDM is revolutionary in nature and that it helps to improve the effectiveness of mail and telephone surveys “in ways thought impossible only a few years ago” (p. 2). Actually. TDM merely says that many factors affect the success of mail and telephone surveys and that these factors interact with one another. Because of this interaction, he says that “exhaustive reviews of the research, of which there are several, seemed destined to be unhelpful” (p. 7). But Dillman does not provide empirical support to show the importance of interactions. Apparently not much evidence exists on this point. Furthermore, he omits reference to Wiseman (1973), a small empirical study which concluded that factor interaction was unimportant. I did not find the TDM framework to be helpful. Furthermore. I do find exhaustive reviews to be helpful. I recommend that you start the book on page 20. This last part of chapter 1 provides evidence on response rates achieved by surveys using TDM.

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