Improving response rates in cross-cultural mail surveys

How to achieve good response rates from domestic mid international mailings continues to be a perplexing problem for researchers. Studies abound that test the effects of adjustments to specific elements of the survey package. This study advocates the adoption of a more theoretically grounded and integrated approach rather than the random adjustment of specific elements. One such approach, the total design method (TDM) is reviewed and its normative guidelines documented. A study using the approach in a commercial context,was conducted in three countries with positive results. The approach was seen to have a positive effect on response tares and to minimize the problem of source country effects. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Inc.