Increasing response rates to a smoking survey for U.S. Navy enlisted women

This study examined the effectiveness of several persistent strategies to increase the response to a smoking survey among newly enlisted U.S. Navy women. The stepped approach, which included the use of incentives, repeated mailings, alternative survey administration modes, and reminders, was evaluated in terms of effects on response rates and response bias. Demographic and baseline smoking-related characteristics were compared for those responding on time to the initial mailed follow-up survey, reluctant respondents who did not respond initially but eventually completed a survey after further prompting, and non-respondents. Results showed that incentives and persistent efforts were effective in substantially increasing the response among 2,231 eligible participants, more than doubling the response rate (from 24.9% to 52.7%). The characteristics of on-time, reluctant, and non-respondents did not differ significantly in terms of sociodemographic characteristics. On the other hand, on-time respondents were different from both reluctant respondents and non-respondents in terms of smoking-related behaviors.