Theatre Audience on Stage: Three Experiments Analysing the Effects of Survey Design Features on Survey Response

In this article a two-stage method for the on site collection of data on a theatre audience is introduced and a number of techniques, acknowledged to reduce unit nonresponse in household surveys, are applied. More particularly, three experimental designs are used to test the impact of a number of survey design features on response rates and sample composition. The various survey design features included are the way in which the sample units are contacted on site, the use of incentives and the specific sequence of the questions in the questionnaire. Only type of contact proved to have a significant impact on the response rate. A selection bias with regard to age and topic salience was found. Suggestions for further research are presented