A monetary gratuity's effect on the return rate (RR) of a mail survey was studied. Half of the surveys mailed to 507 librarians in Arizona included a 1.00 dollar gratuity. The RR was 80% among those receiving the gratuity and 59% among controls. A survey's RR and consequent validity may be improved by including a gratuity. (SLD)

Multiple matrix sampling (MMS) as a data collection strategy was examined, and rates of response from 307 public school principals in Virginia were compared when subgroups of items were administered versus an entire instrument. MMS was demonstrated as a viable and reasonable procedure when the mail questionnaire consists of a large number of pages…

Mail surveys of 133 educational researchers were analyzed to determine practices concerning specially treated control groups. Although some consistency in practice was found, surveys revealed confusion among researchers over the definition of and relationship between both sources of artifact and placebo, Hawthorne, and attention-placebo controls.…

A metanalysis involving 62 studies compared the response rate to mailed surveys with and without a monetary gratuity. The average response rate increased 19% when a gratuity was enclosed. Other findings that substantiate that the external validity of surveys can be increased by gratuities are discussed. (SLD)

Several statistical rational and empirical procedures are presented for dealing with the problems of non-response or low return rates in surveys, namely mail surveys. Advantages and shortcomings of these procedures in educational research are discussed. (SLD)

A mail survey of 125 former teacher education students was conducted to examine subjects' perceptions of and responses to the survey. The effects of techniques thought to motivate mail survey participation on responses and potential respondent bias were examined. (TJH)

Two investigations were conducted to examine whether incentives increased survey returns from 297 and 100, respectively, former teacher education students; and idiographic characteristics, incentives, and multiple mailings influenced respondent perceptions. Establishing a communication network increased the number of responses; incentives and…

Demographic, attitudinal, and response-completion differences were investigated for initial and delayed respondents to a mail survey targeting 600 elementary and secondary school teachers. Overall response rate was 71.2 percent. Twenty-five nonrespondents were interviewed. Delay of response was associated with lower interest in the topic and lower…

Mail survey, telephone survey, and keeping time were compared as methods of assessing teaching time for 74 sixth grade teachers teaching language in the Netherlands. Results suggest that each of the three methods can be used to assess the mean total score, but none can assess individual scores. (SLD)