3 High Response Rates for Low-Income Population In-Person Surveys

In this paper we will look at the context of interviewing low-income popula-tions and the unique challenges presented to survey practitioners. Within that context, we will explore what data collection approaches can increase the likeli-hood of success in the pursuit of high response rates while staying within the limits of a project’s budget and schedule. Finally, we will make some recommen-dations for future efforts in this arena. THE CONTEXT In the Best Practices booklet published by the American Association of Public Opinion Research (1997a) 1 of the 12 named “best practices ” is to maxi-mize cooperation or response rates within the limits of ethical treatment of human subjects (p. 5). In surveys concentrated on low-income populations, high re-sponse rates are especially important. In the past few years, there has been a great deal of interest in finding out what is happening to people after they leave the welfare rolls. Outside of the usual concern about nonrespondents causing a po-tential bias, there is often the need to stratify populations by their relationship t