A questionnaire was mailed to all members of the congregation of a Lutheran church. The
materials sent included a postcard to be mailed separately to indicate when the
questionnaire had been returned. Two versions of the postcard were used; one included
space for the respondent to indicate no intention to return the questionnaire and the
reason why not ("negative"postcard). There were more refusals among those receiving the
"negative" postcard, but the final response rates for both groups were comparable.
Analysis of the reasons for refusal indicated most often that the salience of the
questionnaire topic was low.
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