Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book shows that the social science built upon the results of survey research remains deaf to the nonrespondent minority who, unlike most minorities, deliberately remains silent. It deals with empirical studies into survey nonresponse, employing multiple forms of data. The book describes an approach for predicting overall percentage response on a survey. It is concerned with the causes of survey nonresponse. The approach is empirical, conceptual and ethical, with a bias toward synthesizing information about response behaviour on different types of survey into general conclusions about the 'volunteer subject' in survey research. Although origins are traceable back to antiquity, most histories identify surveying squarely with the industrial age. It was in the three early industrial powers, England, Germany and the United States, that the main developments in the method occurred.