Postal surveys are one of our least expensive field research techniques. The adequacy of a postal survey is, however, heavily dependent on the quality of the postal list. The response rates are also much lower than face-to-face and telephone surveys. As a result, postal surveys are ideal only when 1) a client has a high quality and up-to-date list of its target population and 2) addressing the specified research question does not require having results from a high quality probability sample survey.

Postal surveys, nevertheless, have several great unique advantages. Since no interviewers are used in postal surveys, interviewer bias is absent in the response. In postal surveys, it is also possible to request and get information on “taboo” topics. Under the guise of anonymity, those who do respond tend to also respond in full. Another advantage of postal surveys is that there is no time limitation involved and the respondents may take as long as they wish to finish the survey. This allows the survey to be longer in length and deeper in scope.