The Impact of Topic Interest on Mail Survey Response Behaviour

Non-response occurs when individuals selected into the sample do not participate in the survey. A bias is created when these non-respondents' would-be responses differ from the responses of those who do participate in the survey. The magnitude of such a bias can greatly increase when survey response rates are low; hence survey researchers are justifiably concerned when studies reveal that survey response rates have steadily declined since the early 1950s (DeMaio 1980; Schlossberg 1991; Steeh 1981).

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