The Influence of Advance Letters on Response in Telephone Surveys: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Recently, the leading position of telephone surveys as the major mode of data collection has been challenged. Telephone surveys suffer from a growing nonresponse, partly due to the general nonresponse trend for all surveys and partly due to changes in society and technology influencing contactability and willingness to answer. One way to counteract the increasing nonresponse is the use of an advance letter. In mail and face-to-face surveys, advance letters have been proven effective. Based on the proven effectiveness in face-to-face and mail surveys, survey handbooks advise the use of advance letters in telephone surveys. This study reviews the evidence for this advice and presents a quantitative summary of empirical studies on the effectiveness of advance letters in raising the response rate for telephone surveys. The major conclusion is that advance letters are also an effective tool in telephone surveys, with an average increase in response rate (RR1) from 58 percent (no letter) to 66 percent (advance letter), and an average increase in cooperation rate (COOP1) from 64 percent (no letter) to 75 percent (advance letter).