Unavailable Respondent

The unavailable respondent survey disposition is used in all types of surveys, regardless of mode. It occurs when the selected respondent for a survey is not available (a) at the time of interview, (b) for some portion of the survey field period (temporarily unavailable), or (c) until after the field period of the survey has ended (permanently unavailable). Cases in which the respondent is unavailable, regardless of the duration, are considered eligible cases in calculating survey response rates.

In most surveys, less than half of the completed interviews result after the first contact with the respondent, regardless of whether that contact occurs in person, by telephone, by mail, or by Internet. Many respondents simply are not available at the time of an [Page 918]interviewer's telephone call or visit to the respondent's residence. Respondents may also be away from their residence, may not have retrieved or processed their postal mail or their electronic mail, or may be too busy to complete the survey immediately after it is received. In these situations, it is important to make additional contacts with the selected respondent. For example, in-person and telephone interviewers may ask questions to determine a good day or time for another call or visit to the respondent; survey firms may send a reminder postcard or email message to the respondent asking him or her again to complete and return the survey questionnaire.

In other situations, respondents might be unavailable for several days or longer (not just at the time of contact by an interviewer or at the time a survey is delivered). Respondents may be on vacation or away on a business trip. As long as these temporary periods of unavailability do not extend beyond the field period of a survey, most survey firms hold these cases for an appropriate amount of time and then make additional attempts to contact these respondents and to obtain their cooperation.

There also are instances when the respondent is unavailable during the entire field period of a survey. These instances can include, for example, extended vacations and business travel to other countries. Unless the field period of the survey is extended, these cases usually are coded as permanently unavailable and are not processed further or contacted again.