After closing the survey on Friday, July 18 at 11:59 pm, I’m overall very pleased with my base sample. Following a month-long distribution period, the survey closed with a total of 367 responses at a response rate of 21%. Of those responses, 303 were considered completely usable. I attribute the large response rate the result of two factors. First, individualized emails containing the survey link were sent out to each participant, rather than to all participants at once in a large bulk email. This personal aspect helped form a rapport with each participant, and prevented these emails from being marked as spam. Second, emails were sent out exclusively after work hours (after 5:00 pm) during the five-day business week. This ensured that emails containing the survey would be one of the first emails in each participant’s inbox the following day, as opposed to buried under other emails accrued during the workday or over the weekend.  While both methods were slightly unorthodox, I believe that this rationale ultimately paid off, as evidenced by the large number of responses.

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