Procedures in employment psychology

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 173623112X

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-112923

Document type:: Monograph

Author:: Bingham, Walter Van Dyke http://d-nb.info/gnd/123042593; Freyd, Max

Title:: Procedures in employment psychology

Place of publication:: Chicago & New York

Publisher:: Shaw

Year of publication:: 1926

Scope:: XI, 269 S

Digitisation:: 2020

Collection:: Economics Books

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Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: XI. Questionnaires: The personal history record and the interest analysis

Collection:: Economics Books

oo EMPLOYMENT PSYCHOLOGY ingenuity of the more successful direct-mail copy-writers is needed to insure a maximum proportion of replies. Ques- tionnaires to be sent by mail should be exceptionally brief and should be accompanied by a tactful letter explaining the nature of the inquiry and the service which can be done the applicant by giving correct and conscientious answers. The same letter may enclose a rating scale. An example of such a letter and rating scale is given in Figures 17 and 18. It pays to follow up an inquiry. Toops (203a¢) made a careful study of questionnaires sent out to graduates of a trade school, to determine the success of the instruction. By the use of five follow-up letters in addition to the one originally sent with the questionnaire, he succeeded in ob- taining completed questionnaires from 93% of the graduates whom he was able to reach by mail. The cost per reply from the first letter was $2.77; the final cost per reply of all returns was 68 cents. Among the most important points he makes are the following: There was no great difference between the data from those who replied at once and from those who required a large number of follow-up letters to arouse them to reply; in other words, those who reply readily are not a biased sampling. The shorter the ques- tionnaire the better are the chances of getting replies. The cost per return will be decreased by continuing to send follow-up letters until practically all the questionnaires are returned. When the curve of cumulative returns from a mail canvass becomes almost horizontal, it is time for an- other follow-up letter. The week-end holiday is the time when recipients are most likely to fill out questionnaires, and mail should reach them toward the end of the week. The letters which Toops used, printed in full in his article, will suggest ways of wording such letters in order to insure suf- ficient replies. The telephone is better than the mail in checking the worker’s statements and in obtaining information from his references. Data may also be obtained by company in- 552

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