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- Title
EFFECTIVENESS OF A MAIL QUESTIONNAIRE TECHNIQUE IN THE ARMY.
- Authors
Cahalan, Don
- Abstract
Recent experience with a modified mail technique has brought promising results to warrant describing in Army. In brief, the novel features of the system are the provision of a post card on which the respondent certifies that he has returned a questionnaire in a separate envelope, and provision for rapid checking of representativeness of return in determining the cut-off point as the return come in. Experience with this particular mail questionnaire technique indicates that in dealing with comparable populations the system can provide efficient and representative sampling in a single mailing, with the advantages over personal interviewing of greater assurance of anonymity, absence of interviewer bias, provision of more time for respondents to prepare considered answers, inexpensiveness and speed, since the selection of sample and all the addressing can be done by tabulating machines. The technique probably would be of optimum effectiveness in dealing with officers in the armed forces, because of discipline and their being accustomed to meeting "suspense dates" in filling out reports, as well as the presence of a fairly large body of data on every officer than can be used to check representativeness of return.
- Subjects
QUESTIONNAIRES; MAILINGS; ARMY officers; POSTCARDS; INTERVIEWING; RESPONSE rates; ARMED Forces
- Publication
Public Opinion Quarterly, 1951, Vol 15, Issue 3, p575
- ISSN
0033-362X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1086/266337