There is a general concern over falling response rates on the British NRS. A number of experiments have been undertaken in the past to find ways of increasing the response rate. However, improvements are constrained by the fact that the NRS reporting cycle is monthly and that all fieldwork for a given month has to be completed by the end of that month.
The current assignment length (which consists of 21 addresses) is one week. If necessary, the assignment can be re-issued (that is, sent out to be worked again) although because of the monthly reporting cycle of NRS, fieldwork for a given month must be completed within the fieldwork month.
A test to improve response rates by increasing the assignment length to ten weeks was conducted in the last quarter of 1998 in 70 sampling points. The test incorporated new field monitoring procedures and included advance phone calls and letters to respondents.
The test was a success in that it raised response rates considerably but not in the way we had intended. This paper presents the method, results, and discusses the findings with a view to adopting such procedures on the British NRS.
Symposium: 1999: Florence, Session 4 - The Response Rate Challenge
Authors: Eldershaw, Richard
Topics: Response Rates