Because refusals make up a large portion of survey nonresponse, researchers want to minimize their occurrence as much as possible. Refusal avoidance is the researcher's awareness of, and efforts to eliminate or mitigate, factors that influence potential respondents toward refusing an invitation to participate in a survey. The relevance of concerted efforts to lower refusal rates is that the researcher is trying to reduce survey error through improvement in response rates, thus ostensibly improving the overall quality of the research.

Although there are many factors that influence a potential respondent's decision to participate in research, it is logical and cost-effective for researchers to concentrate on those factors under the control of the researcher, such as survey design and administration. As an integral part of the survey ...