A study of interview refusals

Abstract

In the usual public opinion survey from 10% to 20% of the respondents refuse to be interviewed. Two questions arising from this are: (1) How can the refusal rate be cut down to insignificance? and (2) how do the refusals, if successfully completed, affect the survey results. The answer to the first question is "by using a young and pretty female interviewer". The answer to the second, as measured by the four variables investigated in this study: attitudes toward Negroes, years of education, age, and union membership is as follows. The refusals are less favorable towards Negroes, and have less education than the original respondents. No appreciable difference was found between the two groups in either age or union membership. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)