Effect of Questionnaire Layout and Size and Issue-Involvement on Response Rates in Mail Surveys

A pilot study and an experiment on the design of questionnaires was implemented in two surveys. In the first pilot study ( n = 856) layout and page-size were varied; in the experiment ( n = 1360) only the page-size differed. Professional design of the questionnaire had no significant positive effect on the response rates. In the experiment questionnaires of the size 17 × 24 cm had significant higher response rates than the smaller one (14.5 × 21 cm). Questionnaires judged to be salient to or relevant to respondents' interests had a higher response rate.