Abstract
A study using 75 “lost” letters was designed to test the hypothesis that the rates of return would not vary with the addressees' affiliation, while the level of response would. 30 letters (40%) were returned in the mail to a Post Office Box in Pensacola, Florida. Returns to a Control addressee, Committee to Support the Impeachment of President Bill Clinton, and Committee Opposed to the Impeachment of President Bill Clinton affiliates were 56.0%, 20.0%, and 44.0%, respectively. Of 314 responses recorded for 30 returns, more passersby chose to “ignore” an apparently lost letter than passersby who “responded to an apparently lost letter but did not take it.” Addressees' affiliations significantly were associated with both rates of return and levels of response, as measures of public response using the lost-letter technique.
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