What is a response rate in surveys? Why do we use it as a proxy for data quality?

A response rate in surveys is the percentage of people or businesses (referred to as “respondents” usually) who complete a survey questionnaire divided by the overall sample. For example you can sample 100 businesses from the Inter-Departmental Business Register. If 25 businesses complete a survey then you have a response rate of 25 percent. Keep this simple thought in mind.

What is data quality

The UK government handily talks about data quality in their framework guidance:

Public sector organisations need the right data in order to run good services, make the right decisions, and create effective policies. Data takes many forms including budget figures, employee data, survey responses, and data gathered in digital services.

And what is good data quality you ask? It is data which is fit for purpose.

In surveys this typically means a high response rate. That is because fundamentally all survey results are estimates. They are estimates based on samples, extrapolated to the wider population. A high response rate means that these estimates are of better quality because they reduce the margin of error and confidence intervals of your estimates to the “true value” you are trying to investigate.

Also because the overall response rate is very easy to calculate.