I am constantly bumping into research barrier of extremely low response rates to online questionnaires addressed to companies:only 5-6%. I am looking for your experience and advice on how to motivate them to respond. Thanks.
There are quite a number of factors here.
The first is that research is normally carried out by the powerful on the less powerful or powerless. Surveying company managers inverts the social order of research. A doctor has an apparent right to research her patients, while the patient does not have an apparent right to research his doctor.
So your request for participation is not being made from a position of power.
One solution, which I have experience of, is delivering the research via a professional organisation. If your survey comes under the heading of a prestigious organisation, then the normal logic suddenly reappears – the Medical Council has every right to survey its members. Maybe you could leverage this phenomenon.
The second set of factors are to do with the survey. The initial contact with the potential participant must instantly establish three things:
1. The survey is about something really important
2. The personal experiences and views of this particular participant are vital – they have something important to say and
3. The survey will lead to positive change (and on no account expose the participant to potential risk!)
It's also important, when you are writing the survey, not to start with demographics! Never do that!! Never start a survey with intrusive questions about age, education, job grade, salary!!!
Instead, go for questions that are interesting, on which the participant will want to communicate what they know, what they think, what they have experienced. Make them feel that this survey is going to benefit from their participation, and make them feel this right away.
If you have to ask sensitive questions, work your way up to them by asking questions in which the respondent is going to feel good about answering. You can ask one sensitive question, or one question in which the respondent will feel uncomfortable, for every five positive questions that you have previously asked.
And keep it short.
No, even shorter than that. I worked on one project where my job was to reduce the interview by at least 40% and up to 60%. I sat everyone around a table and challenged the rationale behind every question. It worked. When challenged, about 40% of the survey fell off – no-one was prepared to argue that it was vital.
Maybe you've thought of all this. In which case, I'm as stuck as you!
Thank you so much Ronan. You have opened another window for me. I usually answer all the questionnaires that come across, having in mind that it helps someone, but I will try to look at it from your perspective. The questionnaire us ok, I know how to create one and it takes only about 10 minutes to complete it, but I will try to involve someone "important" in the distribution.
The largest possible contribution to the questionnaire can be encouraged through its distribution within social networks
Thanks..I just got the answer from one of the companies: they are not responding because they think it's espionage! And we ask them about their exports and social respobsibility...
The questionnaire should not be too long. It should not more of sentence data. It should contain some rubrics, so that it can be very easy for them to respond.
Dear Mirna Leko-Šimić
If you propose a overall feedback to the participants? Some managers may consider interesting to get it...
I have the same problem, and in most of my research the participants were more active when they percieve some value to spend their time.
Let me know if works.
Good luck!
Professor André Cardoso
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