The Impact of day of Mailing on Web Survey Response Rate and Response Speed

Abstract

The day of the week on which sample members are invited to participate in a web survey might influence propensity to respond, or to respond promptly (within two days from the invitation). This effect could differ between sample members with different characteristics. We explore such effects using a large-scale experiment implemented on the Understanding Society Innovation Panel, in which some people received an invitation on a Monday and some on a Friday. Specifically, we test whether any effect of the invitation day is moderated by economic activity status (which may result in a different organisation of time by day of the week), previous participation in the panel, or whether the invitation was sent only by post or by post and email simultaneously. Overall, we do not find any effect of day of invitation in survey participation or in prompt participation. However, sample members who provided an email address, and, thus, were contacted by email in addition to postal letter, are less likely to participate if invited on Friday (email reminders: Sunday and Tuesday) as opposed to Monday (email reminders: Wednesday and Friday). Given that no difference between the two protocols is found for prompt response, the effect seems to be due to the day of mailing of reminders. With respect to sample members' economic activity status, those not having a job and the retired are less likely to participate when invited on a Friday; this result holds also for prompt participation, but only for retired respondents. Also, sample members who work long hours are less likely to participate when invited on a Friday; however, no effect is found for prompt response.