Which approach is commonly used to address nonresponse bias in surveys?

• A. Increasing the sample size
• B. Mixed-mode data collection
• C. Reducing incentives
• D. Omitting nonrespondents from analysis

Answer: (B)

Nonresponse bias happens when people who don’t participate differ in important ways from those who do, so survey results no longer reflect the whole population. Using mixed-mode data collection—offering multiple ways to respond (online, phone, mail, in-person)—is a common way to counter this. By meeting respondents where they are and reducing barriers to participation, mixed modes can raise overall response rates and help ensure that different subgroups are represented, which in turn lowers the risk that the nonrespondents skew the findings.

Increasing the sample size mainly improves precision for a given sample, but it doesn’t change who ends up responding, so it doesn’t fix nonresponse bias. Reducing incentives tends to lower response rates and can worsen bias. Omitting nonrespondents from analysis ignores the bias they could introduce and often leads to a distorted picture of the population.