Controlling Survey Response Error in a Mail Survey of Dairy Farmers: A Case Report

Survey results are often presented with minimal description of how survey error was controlled. The objective of this article is to help survey developers and survey data interpreters (1) better understand the sources of survey error and (2) consider these sources of error when developing or reading a description of a survey\u27s methodology. The subject of this article is a survey mailed to Vermont dairy farmers to assess farm characteristics relevant to the potential spread of disease among farms. Sources of error and how they were addressed in this survey are presented