Nearly one-third of the dependent undergraduates received federal financial aid. This software system produces design-adjusted standard errors necessary for testing the statistical significance of differences shown in the tables. In the book Dillman recommends a slightly different approach to mail surveys than in his previous book, Mail and Telephone Surveys. Experience with hundreds of mail surveys over the years has convinced us that very high response rates are possible by using personalized correspondence, repeated mailings, and stamped return envelopes. Its purpose is to tell people they have been selected for the survey and they will be receiving a questionnaire.
More specialized populations are likely to respond in higher proportions.
If study objectives make a higher response rate necessary, it is necessary to increase the number and type of contacts used in the basic procedure. They offer specific suggestions on how to do the additional contacts. I highly recommend this book for college researchers. I am a fairly new addition to Austin Community College in Austin, Minnesota, having been with the college just shy of a year. I am as new to the profession of Institutional Research.