Cooperation Rate

The cooperation rate to a survey indicates the extent to which contacted individuals cooperate with a request to participate in a survey. It is often mistakenly reported or interpreted as the response rate. Generally, the cooperation rate is the ratio of all cases interviewed out of all eligible units ever contacted, whereas a response rate is the ratio of all cases interviewed out of all eligible sample units in the study, not just those contacted.

The American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR), which has established a standard definition of the cooperation rate, offers at least four ways to calculate it. The numerator includes all completed interviews but may or may not include partial interviews. The denominator includes all eligible sample units that were contacted (including ...