Web survey entry selection by a mailed invitation letter

Abstract

The invitation methods of web surveys have been studied from various perspectives, but less is still known about how demographic factors affect the selection of entry options in mailed web survey invitation letters. In a postal invitation letter, we provided the following three options to enter our web survey: using the URL address, emailing the researcher to get a link to the web survey, and texting one’s email address to the researcher to get a link to the web survey. The results of the multinomial logistic regression model show that the odds of selecting the option *“Response link by email”* is 4.1 times higher for those who have a primary education than for those who have an upper secondary education. In addition, an increase of one year in the respondent’s age increased the odds of selecting the *“Response link by email”* option by approximately 5%. In conclusion, older and less educated people tend to select less cognitively burdening entry options.