'Yes, You Can Raise Response Rates'

James D. Peacock

Discusses the increasing problem of erosion in survey response rates. Describes how The Arbitron Company developed strategies for improving respondent co-operation.

'Yes, You Can Raise Response Rates'

James D Peacock, vice president, Research, The Arbitron Company1

For many years, we've all been distressed by trends in consumer cooperation with surveys. Whatever the method, we've seen years - perhaps decades - of steady erosion in response rates. Even the goldest of gold standard methods now have to speculate about the effects of nonresponse bias.

The trends have plagued us at Arbitron, too. It's clear, even over a shorter period, that our response rates have been under great pressure. From a relative high in the mid '80s, we averaged over...

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