Final answer:
The decline in response rates for surveys is attributed to various factors including technology challenges, response bias, and sampling bias, which impact the reliability and validity of survey results.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question concerns the decline in response rates for surveys and the impact this has on the reliability and validity of survey results. A scholarly article about response rates suggests several problems related to sample collection that could explain a connection between survey method and response rates.
Factors that contribute to the decline in response rates include increased use of technology, difficulty in reaching representative samples online, concerns over privacy, and survey fatigue. There's also the challenge of ensuring surveys are compatible across multiple devices and preventing the same individual from responding multiple times.
These problems can compromise the reliability and validity of the surveys, as response bias and sampling bias can skews results. Moreover, the design of the survey, like question wording and interviewer characteristics, can also affect the way respondents answer, leading to measurement error.