<p>Suppose I sent out a survey to all of the authors who published at major venues in my field, and N% of them responded.</p>
<p>For what N would this be considered a success?<br />
For what N would the response bias be considered a critical flaw?</p>
<p>Under what criteria would it be reasonable to use this survey to support statements about the attitudes of researchers in this field?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-04-20T20:09:19.703Z
I suspect the first N will be far below the second N for any unsolicited survey. I've seen a huge range depending on topic and originator. I think most people receiving this sort of message will find it as rude. Make sure you get IRB approval before doing human subjects research.
Bryan Krause
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-04-20T20:15:40.417Z
Related: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/187423/ethical-implications-of-using-scraped-e-mail-addresses-for-survey
Bryan Krause
<survey>
What is a typical response rate to a survey of academics?
capybaralet
# What is a typical response rate to a survey of academics?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2023-04-20)

Suppose I sent out a survey to all of the authors who published at major venues in my field, and N% of them responded.

For what N would this be considered a success?  
For what N would the response bias be considered a critical flaw?

Under what criteria would it be reasonable to use this survey to support statements about the attitudes of researchers in this field?

**Tags:** survey

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I suspect the first N will be far below the second N for any unsolicited survey. I've seen a huge range depending on topic and originator. I think most people receiving this sort of message will find it as rude. Make sure you get IRB approval before doing human subjects research.  
> **username_1**: Related: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/187423/ethical-implications-of-using-scraped-e-mail-addresses-for-survey  

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## 0 answers

