Invitation Letters Increase Response Rates in Elite Surveys: Evidence from Germany and the United Kingdom
Invitation Letters Increase Response Rates in Elite Surveys: Evidence from Germany and the United Kingdom (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/xps.2025.10004) was written by Nathalie Giger and Miguel M. Pereira in 2025. It was published in the Journal of Experimental Political Science.
The authors embed an experiment in the EPLO. Prospective respondents are invited to complete the survey by email. The authors randomly assigned treatment to receive additionally a formal letter. This was done in Germany and the UK between Dec. 2022 to Feb. 2023.
The authors compare the response rates of treatment and control, split by country and pooled while controlling for country fixed effects.
They find that letters do increase responsiveness. No correlation with survey completion status, level of completion, or time to complete. The respondents reached are more likely to be from smaller municipalities, more likely to be men, and less likely to have a college degree.