World Governance Survey

The experience of data collection in India was fairly uneven. Over 85 copies of the questionnaire were circulated, on the basis of an initial list later expanded which was designed to be representative of every sector of professional activity identified. In most cases, the mailing of the questionnaire was preceded by a prior telephone conversation or a personal visit to confirm that the respondent was willing to do it. Nevertheless, the follow-up effort was enormously taxing with, in many cases, respondents having to be reminded anywhere between five to ten times each. There were many who promised to complete the questionnaire but have failed to do so in four months! But there were also a few others who responded simply on the basis of the cover letter.