Mail survey reliability through follow-up mailings: the case of auditor changes

Two of the possible problems that may arise from gathering data by mail questionnaire are: survey recipients fail to respond, or they respond but provide unreliable data. Extant research has examined the effects of pressure to respond on increasing response rates; however, efforts to achieve a high...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Managerial auditing journal 2004-10, Vol.19 (8), p.1048-1054
Main Authors: Dunn, Kimberly A, Fenwick Huss, H
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Auditors
Mailings
Polls & surveys
Printed materials
Questionnaires
Reliability
Response rates
Statistical analysis
Studies
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Summary:Two of the possible problems that may arise from gathering data by mail questionnaire are: survey recipients fail to respond, or they respond but provide unreliable data. Extant research has examined the effects of pressure to respond on increasing response rates; however, efforts to achieve a high response rate may produce unreliable data. The analysis presented in this paper examines the effects of increased pressure to respond to mail surveys on the reliability of survey responses. Our findings suggest that increased pressure to respond, decreased the reliability of information obtained. In addition, we show that personalization of the survey increases the reliability of responses. However, the conclusions concerning information suppression are not clear. The type of auditor change was a significant determinate of response reliability, but companies with greater financial distress were no more likely to give unreliable responses concerning the independent auditor changes.
ISSN:0268-6902
1758-7735
DOI:10.1108/02686900410557944