Advantages and disadvantages of using mail surveys Essay

Advantages and disadvantages of using mail surveys - Essay Example The respondents also have an interest in the subject of the survey (Mail Surveys, 2005). The person administering the survey should also possess beforehand a mailing list of the respondents (Mail Surveys, 2005). Mail survey is practical to use because the researcher need not consume a lot of time setting an appointment with the respondent for a personal interview or dialing each of the telephone numbers for a phone interview. In a phone interview, there is a possibility that the respondent cannot be contacted due to a number of reasons (e.g. sudden important appointment of respondent, emergency meeting). In a mail survey, once all the letters are delivered to the post office, the burden of delivery is shifted to the postal network (Mail Surveys, 2005). Mailing cost is cheaper (Mail Surveys, 2005) than commuting personally to reach a respondent. This method can reach a wider sample size because there is no personal interaction between the researcher and the respondents (Mail Surveys, 2005). Respondents are not time-pressured to answer the questionnaires but can do it any time at their convenience (Mail Surveys, 2005). Moreover, bias of the interviewer is reduced with lack of personal interaction with the respondent (Mail Surveys, 2005). It is appropriate in soliciting customer suggestions and proposals or feedback on the changes to be implemented by an organization (Mail Surveys, 2004). This is also an effective approach in acquiring sensitive information such as personal feedbacks of respondents who are discontented or disgruntled with a service or organization (Mail Surveys, 2004). Mail survey is disadvantageous because the respondent may simply ignore the questionnaire and not take the effort to answer it and mail it back. In short, there is no assurance that the target respondent will respond to the mail survey (Mail Surveys, 2004). People with low literacy usually have low response rate (around 20