The effect of introductions on telephone survey participation rates

This paper reports the findings from an investigation into the effects of telephone survey introductions on survey participation rates. Four introduction elements were tested: an incentive (prize draw for a weekend holiday); an assurance that the survey was not a sales pitch; an assurance of confidentiality; and a short versus longer description of the survey topic. Overall, only the incentive significantly increased the participation rate. In combination, the best result, and the only one to achieve a significantly higher participation rate than the control (64% compared to 54%), was the use of the incentive coupled with a `no-sales' assurance. The use of the incentive did not appear to encourage people to lie about their eligibility as a respondent. Replication studies are urged, to test these and other previously reported techniques for increasing participation rates in telephone surveys.