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Abstract
Software which dials specified telephone numbers and delivers an automated
telephone message was tested as an alternative to postcard reminders in the
Pennsylvania County Estimates Survey. Similar to prior research (McCarthy,
2007), software automatically dialed and delivered a pre-recorded message to two
randomly selected subsamples of operations. In the present experiment, one
subsample received a message recorded by an unidentified speaker (the field
office director) following the first mailing of the questionnaire. A second
subsample received the same message recorded by the Pennsylvania Secretary of
Agriculture. A third random sample received the same reminder message from
the field office director, on a traditional postcard reminder delivered via US Postal
Service mail. Response rates for each of these groups were compared to a control
group which received no reminder. All three reminder groups had higher
response rates than the control group, but unlike a previous test, the highest
response rate was produced by the generic automated telephone message.