‘You’re Not My Friend’: Communication Style, Sponsor Salience, and Gender in Recruitment Messaging

Abstract

Amidst declining response rates, low-cost methods to decrease nonresponse and reduce nonresponse bias are a priority for survey research, especially for research targeting younger and college-aged populations who typically have lower response rates. While web surveys have grown more popular due to the high rate of Internet penetration for younger populations and the low cost of administration, this mode typically results in even lower response rates than other modes. Research suggests that features of the email invitation can enhance survey salience and response rates. In this study, we conduct a split-ballot randomized web survey to determine the effect of tone in the email invitation on nonresponse for an undergraduate student population. We find that an informal tone in the survey invitation results in a significantly lower response rate for males, but not for females.