An experiment on the efficacy of a certified final mailing

This paper reports the results of an experiment to test the efficacy of a certified final mailing in recreation research using mailed surveys. Approximately 67 per cent of a sample of farm show attendees responded to the first three mail survey contacts. The 450 nonrespondents were randomly divided into three treatment groups for the purpose of comparing a certified personalized final mailing to two noncertified mailings (one personalized and one not personalized). The results indicated that the certified mailing resulted in significantly higher response rates than either type of noncertified mailing. However, in this study, the value of a final mailing (regardless of the type) was minimal, in that the overall results were not significantly altered by the additional information. In mail surveys, where there is a question of topic salience or sample homogeneity, the certified mailing is recommended as a method to increase response rates.