Responses to a followup request for survey completion provided information about reasons for nonresponse by the target audience. Few studies of nonresponse have relied on reasons given by those who did not choose to respond; although not intentionally gathered, the data provide insights into nonresponse. An electronic mail survey was sent to 452 college deans, and 232 eventually responded. In all, there were four reminders, two by postcard and two by e-mail. Fifty-five deans replied to the e-mail followups and offered various reasons for not completing the survey. These replies were analyzed and grouped into five categories. Some simply refused participation, usually in a courteous and succinct way. The second category contained responses related to investing time to participate, and the third category included responses from persons who no longer served as deans and thus declined to respond. The fourth group declined to complete the survey because they only answer surveys prepared as part of the business of national organizations or surveys not found at Web sites. The final group declined to answer because they thought the survey was poorly designed or did not capture germane issues of leadership. Although it is not clear that these repliers were representative of the nonresponders overall, their e-mail comments provide some insight into nonresponse to Web surveys. (Contains 24 references.) (SLD)
