Telephone response rates fall to 9%, says Pew report

US— Telephone survey response rates have slumped to 9%, down from 25% a decade ago, according to analysis by the Pew Research Center.

Yet telephone surveys that include both landlines and cellphones “continue to provide accurate data on most political, social and economic measures” when weighted to match the demographic composition of the population, according to Pew.

In a report published this week the research organisation compared two surveys – one with a response rate of 9% and one with an enhanced response rate of 22% – to a range of government survey data, voter and consumer databases and each other.

Broadly, Pew found little differences between the surveys and the comparison data sets. But one “significant area of non-response bias” is in measures of volunteering and civic activity.

Pew said its survey participants tended to be significantly more engaged in civic activity than those who do not participate, suggesting that telephone surveys could lead to overestimates of behaviour such as church attendance, contact with elected officials and attendance at campaign events.

The full report is here.

We hope you enjoyed this article.
Research Live is published by MRS.

The Market Research Society (MRS) exists to promote and protect the research sector, showcasing how research delivers impact for businesses and government.

Members of MRS enjoy many benefits including tailoured policy guidance, discounts on training and conferences, and access to member-only content.

For example, there's an archive of winning case studies from over a decade of MRS Awards.

Find out more about the benefits of joining MRS here.

0 Comments

Display name

Email

Join the discussion

Newsletter
Stay connected with the latest insights and trends...
Sign Up
Latest From MRS

Our latest training courses

Our new 2025 training programme is now launched as part of the development offered within the MRS Global Insight Academy

See all training

Specialist conferences

Our one-day conferences cover topics including CX and UX, Semiotics, B2B, Finance, AI and Leaders' Forums.

See all conferences

MRS reports on AI

MRS has published a three-part series on how generative AI is impacting the research sector, including synthetic respondents and challenges to adoption.

See the reports

Progress faster...
with MRS 
membership

Mentoring

CPD/recognition

Webinars

Codeline

Discounts