‘We are looking for people like you’ – new technique of social influence as a tool of improving response rate in surveys

ABSTRACT

A low response rate in surveys makes the research more expensive and time consuming, but it also, or even more importantly, constitutes a major methodological problem. Therefore, researchers use all kinds of measures in order to increase the response rate. This article describes four experiments (three field studies and one on-line experiment) designed to test a specific technique intended for this purpose. The technique consists in suggesting, to a respondent, that the study requires individuals with a certain rare quality that they have. In the case of the first study, which was conducted during the pandemic, respondents were told that it required people wearing exactly the type of face mask as theirs (or people without a face mask). In the second study, tall people were asked to complete a survey. Some of them were told right away that only tall individuals were considered suitable candidates for the study. In both cases, this technique significantly improved the response rate. However, the employed technique proved ineffective in both Study 3 and Study 4. In these instances, participants likely perceived that their refusal wouldn’t pose any inconvenience to the researchers. Consequently, we can posit that the efficacy of the ’we are looking for people like you’ social influence technique hinges on respondents feeling compelled to respond affirmatively to the research invitation. The assumption is that declining may potentially create challenges for the researchers, prompting a sense of obligation among participants.

Statement of significance

Low response rate is a serious problem – not only methodological but also practical. Questionnaire researchers try to reduce the low response rate in various ways. In our article, we propose a solution for PAPI researchers. We analyze the technique of social influence that allows you to easily increase the percentage of people willing to fill in the questionnaires. This technique (we named it ‘we are looking for people like you’) turns out to be an effective tool to increase the response rate, and at the same time it is cheap, does not require any additional tools and allows you to maintain the structure of the results obtained.

KEYWORDS:

• Survey response rate
• PAPI
• social influence technique

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, TG, upon reasonable request.