Refusal Report Form (RRF)

A large proportion of nonresponse in surveys is due to refusals, which occur when a request to participate in a survey is declined. Researchers are concerned about the effect of refusals because of the potential error that they can introduce in survey estimates.

A refusal report form (RRF) is a structured form used by interviewers immediately after a refusal is encountered. The employment of an RRF process produces valuable paradata and has three main benefits:

1.
It can provide estimates of relevant parameters (e.g. refuser gender, race, age) that can be compared with the obtained sample to help determine the presence and impact of potential nonresponse bias.
2.
It can provide valuable information that can help interviewers in subsequent contact attempts to convert these refusals into completed interviews.
3.
It can help ...