Increasing Participation in Survey Research among Veterans: A Tailored Mailing Experiment

In a pilot survey aiming to inform Veteran suicide prevention, Veterans who were Black/African American, Hispanic, Asian/Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (AANHPI), female, and recently separated responded at lower rates. To increase response in a subsequent survey, an experiment was conducted to examine the effect of receiving tailored inserts (i.e., recruitment materials with images of Veterans from one’s demographic group), compared to a generic insert (i.e., images from a variety of demographic groups) or no insert. We hypothesized that receiving tailored inserts with images of Veterans from respondents’ demographic group would increase survey response. The experimental manipulation yielded non-significant results, except for significant findings in the opposite direction as hypothesized among Black/African American Veterans, for whom yield (i.e., percentage of sampled cases who returned a completed survey) was lowest among those who received the tailored insert. Conversely, while not statistically significant, yields were higher in the tailored insert group for AANHPI, Hispanic, and recently separated Veterans. Findings suggest that the impact of visual representation in survey recruitment materials may differ across Veteran groups. Alternately, more effective images may be needed to optimize tailoring of recruitment materials. Additional research is warranted to better understand whether tailored inserts can increase response among Veterans who are harder to engage in research.