Respondents' and Nonrespondents' Views on Stimulating Response to Mail Surveys in Travel Research

Numerous studies have evaluated techniques for increasing the response to mail questionnaire surveys, e.g., self-addressed, postage-paid return envelopes and monetary/nonmonetary incentives. These studies have traditionally made judgments on the relative efficacy of various response-stimulating methods through comparisons of the response rates of these methods, using the same questionnaire and the same or similar population. Surprisingly, none of these studies has solicited the views of the respondents and nonrespondents on how to increase participation in these surveys or cautions for researchers who use mail surveys. This article reports the results of such a study in travel research.

Respondents and nonrespondents in a mail questionnaire study of tourism and travel behavior were telephoned and asked questions pertaining to factors that enhanced and also tended to discourage their response to the tourism and travel questionnaire. Their views on what reserachers who use mail surveys can do to stimulate response to mail surveys were also solicited. Implications of the study's findings for travel researchers and other users of mail questionnaires are discussed.