Choosing the path of least resistance: Examining response rates across a multi-modal survey of tobacco use among college students in Texas

Objectives: This study examines methodological issues related to surveying college students and contrasts three modes of survey implementation (mail, telephone and email) to compare response rate and cost effectiveness.

Methods: The Tobacco Survey for Texas College Students was a self-reported, cross-sectional survey targeting a sample of 4,000 undergraduate college students aged 18-26 in Texas, stratified by college type. Three modes – email, telephone, and mail – were used to implement the survey. To reduce costs, the email mode was targeted for half of the sample. Emails were sent though a third-party sampling vendor. All three modes were directed to the same online survey instrument. Descriptive analyses were used to examine response rates and cost-effectiveness.

Results: A total of 1443 responses were received. The telephone mode had the highest response rate of 4.5% at a cost of nearly $50 per complete. This was followed by the mail mode which had a response rate of 3.8% at the cost of $32.50 per complete. The email mode performed vastly under expectations with a completion rate of 0.11%.

Conclusions: Email is considered a cost-effective and high-response mode of survey for college students. However, this study shows that the email mode has its own limitations which need to be addressed for it to be successful. This study has shown the importance of having direct access to student email addresses, which allows researchers to monitor response rates better and take precautions to avoid spam filters.