90% Sample First mailing nonrespondents

Letter sent with first survey mailing

U.S. Department of the Interior Letterhead

Dear Resident:

Your household has been selected to participate in this important research study about plans to restore the Klamath River Basin in Oregon and California. Even if you have never heard of the Klamath River, your opinions are very important to us and this research project. This study is funded by the U.S. Department of the Interior and is being conducted by RTI International, an independent, not-for-profit research institute.

The information from the survey will help the U.S. Department of the Interior decide what to do and how much to spend, if anything, on improving conditions in the Klamath River Basin. This is an opportunity for you to provide government decision makers with your opinion about whether and how tax dollars should be spent on this issue.

Please have the adult age 21 or older in your household with the most recent birthday fill out the survey. This will allow us to collect information from one randomly selected person in your household. If that person cannot complete the survey, please have another adult age 21 or older in your household fill it out. When you have finished, please put the survey in the enclosed pre-paid envelope and place it in a U.S. Postal Service mailbox.

The survey usually takes about 30 minutes to complete, but for some people it takes more or less time. To help you understand the decision that the government is facing, the survey includes some information about the Klamath River Basin and the issues it is confronting.

As a token of our appreciation for your completed questionnaire, we are including a small thank-you payment. Your name and address will not be associated with your individual answers, and the results of the survey will be reported as group averages only.

Taking part in this survey is voluntary. If you agree to participate, we ask you to answer all of the questions as honestly as you can, but if you do not want to answer a specific question, please skip it and go on to the next question. This survey has been sent to only 13,000 randomly selected households in the entire country, so every response is very important.

If you have any questions about the study, you may call Carol Mansfield at 1-866-XXX-XXXX (a toll-free number) or email [email protected]. If you have any questions about your rights as a study participant, you may call RTI’s Office of Research Protection at 1-866-214-2043 (also toll-free).

Thank you for your participation.

Sincerely,

Benjamin Simon

Project Director, Department of the Interior