{"id":10869,"date":"2019-02-27T12:00:35","date_gmt":"2019-02-27T17:00:35","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-10-15T12:38:52","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T16:38:52","slug":"response-rates-in-telephone-surveys-have-resumed-their-decline","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2019\/02\/27\/response-rates-in-telephone-surveys-have-resumed-their-decline\/","title":{"rendered":"Response rates in telephone surveys have resumed their decline"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

After stabilizing briefly, response rates to telephone public opinion polls conducted by Pew Research Center have resumed their decline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"After<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In 2017 and 2018, typical telephone survey response rates fell to 7% and 6%, respectively, according to the Center\u2019s latest data. Response rates had previously held steady<\/a> around 9% for several years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the Center\u2019s telephone survey protocol is somewhat different from those used by other organizations, conversations with contractors and other pollsters confirm that the pattern reported here is being experienced more generally in the industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the factors depressing participation in telephone polling may be the recent surge<\/a> in automated telemarketing calls, particularly to cellphones. The volume of robocalls has skyrocketed in recent years, reaching an estimated 3.4 billion per month. Since public opinion polls typically appear as an unknown or unfamiliar number, they are easily mistaken for telemarketing appeals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, new technologies sometimes erroneously flag survey calls<\/a> \u2013 even those conducted for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention \u2013 as \u201cspam.\u201d Numerous cellphone operating systems, cellular carriers and third-party apps block incoming phone numbers or warn users that incoming numbers are from potential scammers, fraudsters or spammers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For pollsters, these new challenges add to a long-standing set of reasons<\/a> why some people may not respond to surveys, including concerns over intrusions on their time and privacy; people feeling too busy to participate; and a general lack of interest in taking surveys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But low response rates don\u2019t necessarily mean that telephone polling is completely broken. Studies examining the impact of low response on data quality have generally found that response rates are an unreliable metric of accuracy. Pew Research Center studies conducted in 1997<\/a>, 2003<\/a>, 2012<\/a> and 2016<\/a> found little relationship between response rates and accuracy, and other researchers have found similar results<\/a>. In the 2018 midterm election, polls \u2013 including those conducted by phone with live interviewers \u2013 performed well by historical standards. Nonpartisan polls in 2018 were more accurate<\/a>, on average, than midterm polls since 1998.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While low response rates don\u2019t render polls inaccurate on their own, they shouldn\u2019t be completely ignored, either. A low response rate does signal that the risk of error is higher than it would be with higher participation. The key issue is whether the attitudes and other outcomes measured in the poll are related to people\u2019s decisions about taking the survey. In some cases, there is a relationship, but it is corrected by standard weighting adjustment. In other cases, such as when polls attempt to measure volunteerism<\/a>, standard weighting falls short, resulting in biased estimates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another important concern is that low response rates lead to higher survey costs \u2013 sometimes much higher. This reality often forces survey organizations to make trade-offs in their studies, such as reducing sample size, extending field periods or reducing quality in other ways in order to shift resources to the interviewing effort. For a number of reasons \u2013 including the twin issues of declining response and rising costs \u2013 Pew Research Center now conducts most of its U.S. polling online<\/a> using its American Trends Panel<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Main report: Growing and Improving Pew Research Center\u2019s American Trends Panel<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What our transition to online polling means for decades of phone survey trends<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q&A: Why and how we expanded our American Trends Panel to play a bigger role in our U.S. surveys<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Response rates to telephone public opinion polls conducted by Pew Research Center have resumed their decline, to 7% in 2017 and 6% in 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