In this experimental research several appeals to questionnaire respondents (professionalism, humor, importance, token compensation) were combined with stationery variations and threat of follow-up letters. Results were that no one combination of these three variables was most effective. Token compensation was recommended in combination with other…

In order to study procedures for increasing the return of mailed questionnaires, several types of cover letters were sent to groups of potential subjects. The three experimental variables were: (1) appeals to the potential respondent; (2) threat of a follow-up letter; and (3) stationery letterhead. Four types of appeals to the subject to…

This report describes the design and results of an experiment to test whether a $10.00 payment to participate in the national Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (HANES) would significantly increase the response rate for the survey. The design and findings of the study, as well as a comparison of response rates prior to and following…

This paper presents the rationale for a questionnaire measure of individual differences in stimulus screening--namely, individual differences in automatic screening of irrelevant stimuli and rapid habituation to distracting, irrelevant stimuli. All components of the questionnaire were intercorrelated and represented a unitary dimension of…

This study examines the frequency of depression among freshmen through a retrospective inventory completed by 158 randomly selected sophomores. Of these, 75 percent reported having experienced at least mild depression in the preceding year. The study indicates that frequency of depression is generally underestimated. (SJL)

The effects of feedback letters sent to students thanking them for their course ratings were examined in two experiments. In the first study, students who initially rated the course highly were not affected by the feedback letters. However, after being exposed to poor instructional materials (an inadequately prepared study guide), students who…