50-Year review of the Door-in-the-Face message strategy

The current paper reports a review of the Door-in-the-Face (DITF) technique using meta-analysis. Results indicate a significant relationship between use of DITF strategy and compliance for verbal compliance and behavioral compliance across 89 and 53 comparisons respectively with weighted effects of r =.14 and r =.08. The pattern of findings did not vary over time for verbal compliance but did so for behavioral compliance with effect sizes increasing over time. DITF worked better when students were approached for compliance and when control compliance rates were lower for control requests for verbal compliance and for requests for money versus requests for volunteering for behavioral compliance. Supplemental analyses indicate an additive effect of combining study moderators for predicting verbal compliance.