Web Survey Bibliography
The objective of the National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE) is to document the nation’s current use and availability of early care and education, and to deepen our understanding of the extent to which families’ needs and preferences coordinate well with providers’ offerings and constraints. The NSECE included a survey of home-based child care providers who were licensed or otherwise registered with state agencies. The survey included Web data collection, with phone or in-person follow up as needed. Individuals who provide care to children in a home-based setting tend to be older or lower-income or in other demographic subgroups that have lower Internet usage rates. In order to encourage participation by Web, a $35 gift card was offered to complete the interview online. We had phone numbers, but no mailing or email addresses for sampled individuals. We designed an experiment with 1,300 providers to test whether it would be more efficient to 1) send a letter or email as a first contact based on locating efforts that didn’t involve personal contact with the respondent, or 2) make a gaining cooperation phone call first, to introduce the study and then request mailing or email information to send the Web survey request. Our evaluation includes comparisons of effort required, success rates in reaching respondents through initial contact attempts, cooperation with the initial request, and final cooperation rates.
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