Mailed evaluation questionnaires: Replications of a 96 percent return rate procedure

In 1982, a mail survey procedure produced a 96% return rate in a study of the evaluation of teachers. Four subsequent replications of the procedure (primarily in educational settings) from 1983 to 1988 also achieved high return rates. The original study and the replications are compared in terms of: populations sampled, implementation of the method, and results. The procedure is then examined with regard to effectiveness, cost, history as a source of invalidity, bias, familiarity with sender, linkage, type of sample for which the methodology seems appropriate, and interactions among variables. The future use of the procedure in evaluation and research and potential additional investigations of it are discussed.