This study examined the effects of two variables—descriptive cover letter and pre‐letter to respondent's secretary—on response rate to a mailed survey. Two hundred randomly selected Michigan elementary school principals were sent the Eysenck Personality Inventory. There was no significant difference (χ2= .55,p>.05) in the rate of response between those administrators who received the descriptive cover letter and those who received no descriptive cover letter. However, those whose secretaries had been sent a pre‐letter responded at a higher rate (χ2= 11.70,p<.001) than those whose secretaries received no p