Response Rates and Response Content in Mail Versus Face-To-Face Surveys

1994 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 381 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Krysan ◽  
Howard Schuman ◽  
Lesli Jo Scott ◽  
Paul Beatty
Keyword(s):  
Response Rates ◽  
Face To Face

Response Rates in Online Surveys With Affective Disorder Participants

2020 ◽  
Vol 228 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanja Burgard ◽  
Michael Bošnjak ◽  
Nadine Wedderhoff
Keyword(s):  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Response Rates ◽  
Contact Mode ◽  
General Anxiety Disorder ◽  
General Anxiety ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Survey Participation ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Design Characteristics ◽  
E Mail

Abstract. A meta-analysis was performed to determine whether response rates to online psychology surveys have decreased over time and the effect of specific design characteristics (contact mode, burden of participation, and incentives) on response rates. The meta-analysis is restricted to samples of adults with depression or general anxiety disorder. Time and study design effects are tested using mixed-effects meta-regressions as implemented in the metafor package in R. The mean response rate of the 20 studies fulfilling our meta-analytic inclusion criteria is approximately 43%. Response rates are lower in more recently conducted surveys and in surveys employing longer questionnaires. Furthermore, we found that personal invitations, for example, via telephone or face-to-face contacts, yielded higher response rates compared to e-mail invitations. As predicted by sensitivity reinforcement theory, no effect of incentives on survey participation in this specific group (scoring high on neuroticism) could be observed.

Increasing Response Rates on Face-to-Face Surveys with Indigenous Communities in Canada: Lessons from Pictou Landing

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana Lewis ◽  
Heather Castleden ◽  
Sheila Francis ◽  
Kim Strickland ◽  
Colleen Denny
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Response Rates ◽  
Face To Face

scholarly journals The factors affecting response rate in survey on well-being among people with foreign origin

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
E Lilja ◽  
A Seppänen ◽  
H Kuusio
Keyword(s):  
Online Survey ◽  
Response Rate ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Response Rates ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Migrant Population ◽  
Population Surveys ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Face To Face

Abstract Background Previous population surveys among people with foreign background (PFB) in Finland have had successful response rates (62%-66%) when using mainly face-to-face interviews. A cross-sectional population survey (FinMONIK) explored more cost-efficient ways to collect the data on PFB. Methods The data collection was conducted in Finland between May 2018 and January 2019. The random sample consisted of 12 877 (after removing over-coverage) 18-64-year-olds stratified by region. First, a letter containing a link to the online survey with 18 different language options was sent to the participants. After two reminders, the questionnaire was sent twice on paper to the non-respondents. Finally, supplementary phone interviews were carried out by multi-lingual interviewers. All the participants were able to enter in a draw to win gift cards. Results The response rate (RR) for the online survey was 34%. RR was highest for those who had lived in Finland 5 years or less (43%) and lowest among the divorced (23%) and Estonians (27%). The paper questionnaire was mostly preferred by older age groups, increasing the RR of 40-64 year-olds from 31% to 48%. Telephone interviews increased the RR by five percent points, thus making the final RR for the survey 53%. Persons born in the EU and North-America responded the most frequently (58%) whereas RR was lowest amongst the Sub-Saharan African origin migrants (47%). RR was particularly low (42%) for those who had moved to Finland at ages 0-6. Conclusions In surveys conducted amongst PFB, relatively good response rates can be obtained by using alternate methods for gathering data instead of costly and time-consuming face-to-face interview. Age and marital status seemed to affect the preference of survey format. The overall RR varied by country of origin. Key messages A good response rate can be obtained without face-to-face interviews in migrant population surveys. Migrant population surveys can be conducted more efficiently by combining a variety of methods.

scholarly journals Respondent Burden Effects on Item Non-Response and Careless Response Rates: An Analysis of Two Types of Surveys

Mathematics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (17) ◽  
pp. 2035
Author(s):  
Álvaro Briz-Redón
Keyword(s):  
Random Effects ◽  
Telephone Survey ◽  
Response Rates ◽  
Mixed Effects Models ◽  
Quantitative Detection ◽  
Clear Trend ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Respondent Burden ◽  
Careless Responding ◽  
Increasing Trend

The respondent burden refers to the effort required by a respondent to answer a questionnaire. Although this concept was introduced decades ago, few studies have focused on the quantitative detection of such a burden. In this paper, a face-to-face survey and a telephone survey conducted in Valencia (Spain) are analyzed. The presence of burden is studied in terms of both item non-response rates and careless response rates. In particular, two moving-window statistics based on the coefficient of unalikeability and the average longstring index are proposed for characterizing careless responding. Item non-response and careless response rates are modeled for each survey by using mixed-effects models, including respondent-level and question-level covariates and also temporal random effects to assess the existence of respondent burden during the questionnaire. The results suggest that the sociodemographic characteristics of the respondents and the typology of the question impact item non-response and careless response rates. Moreover, the estimates of the temporal random effects indicate that item non-response and careless response rates are time-varying, suggesting the presence of respondent burden. In particular, an increasing trend in item non-response rates in the telephone survey has been found, which supports the hypothesis of the burden. Regarding careless responding, despite the presence of some temporal variation, no clear trend has been identified.

scholarly journals Recruitment and participation of a survey in a public–private primary care setting: experience from the QUALICOPC Malaysia

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masliyana Husin ◽  
Norazida Ab Rahman ◽  
Xin Ci Wong ◽  
Kamaliah Mohamad Noh ◽  
Seng Fah Tong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
Response Rate ◽  
Research Participation ◽  
Response Rates ◽  
Monetary Incentives ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Multi Stage ◽  
Primary Care Doctors ◽  
Urban Rural

Abstract Aim: The purpose of this paper is to describe the recruitment strategies, the response rates and the reasons for non-response of Malaysian public and private primary care doctors in an international survey on the quality, cost and equity in primary care. Background: Low research participation by primary care doctors, especially those working in the private sector, is a challenge to quality benchmarking. Methods: Primary care doctors were sampled through multi-stage sampling. The first stage-sampling unit was the primary care clinics, which were randomly sampled from five states in Malaysia to reflect their proportions in two strata – sector (public/private) and location (urban/rural). Strategies through endorsement, personalised invitation, face-to-face interview and non-monetary incentives were used to recruit public and private doctors. Data collection was carried out by fieldworkers through structured questionnaires. Findings: A total of 221 public and 239 private doctors participated in the study. Among the public doctors, 99.5% response rates were obtained. Among the private doctors, a 32.8% response rate was obtained. Totally, 30% of private clinics were uncontactable by telephone, and when these were excluded, the overall response rate is 46.8%. The response rate of the private clinics across the states ranges from 31.5% to 34.0%. A total of 167 answered the non-respondent questionnaire. Among the non-respondents, 77.4 % were male and 22.6% female (P = 0.011). There were 33.6% of doctors older than 65 years (P = 0.003) and 15.9% were from the state of Sarawak (P = 0.016) when compared to non-respondents. Reason for non-participation included being too busy (51.8%), not interested (32.9%), not having enough patients (9.1%) and did not find it beneficial (7.9%). Our study demonstrated the feasibility of obtaining favourable response rate in a survey involving doctors from public and private primary care settings

scholarly journals Older adults’ motivations to participate or not in epidemiological research. Qualitative inquiry on a study into dementia in Switzerland

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. e0247141
Author(s):  
Maddalena Fiordelli ◽  
Marta Fadda ◽  
Rebecca Amati ◽  
Emiliano Albanese
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Epidemiological Study ◽  
Internal Validity ◽  
Research Participation ◽  
Response Rates ◽  
Epidemiological Studies ◽  
Qualitative Inquiry ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
High Participation

Introduction High participation in epidemiological studies is crucial for both external and internal validity. Because response rates have declined in recent years, there is an increasing need to understand the drivers and the barriers to research participation. This study aims to uncover the motivations in favour and against participation of older adults to an epidemiological study on health and dementia. Methods Twenty-two older adults, who already took part to the preliminary phase of an epidemiological study in Switzerland, agreed to participate to semi-structured, face-to- face interviews. An experienced researcher carried out all interviews in a quiet place of choice of the interviewee either at their domicile or the university, between November 2019 and January 2020. The interviews were audio and video taped, transcribed verbatim, and thematically analysed by two independent researchers. Results We identified three main themes for the motivations in favour of participation (i.e. personal, related to the outcomes of research, and altruistic motivations), and we highlighted subthemes for each theme (e.g. personal motivations: curiosity; civic engagement; interest in the topic; trust in science; everyone counts; openness; play the game). Motivations against participation reflected the first two themes, while there was no counterpart for altruistic motivations. Conclusions Our thematic analysis revealed that older adults hold specular motivations in favour and against participation to research. Studying jointly motivations in favour and against provides information for recruitment strategies and to overcome barriers to participation, respectively. Participatory action research can inform the design and conduction of and should precede epidemiological studies in older adults, and can potentially contribute to attain high response rates.

scholarly journals Effectiveness of WhatsApp for measuring migration in follow-up phone surveys - Lessons from a mode experiment in two low-income countries during COVID contact restrictions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felix Ndashimye ◽  
Oumarou Hebie ◽  
Jasper Tjaden
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Interactive Voice Response ◽  
Sample Selection ◽  
Response Rates ◽  
Survey Response ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Migration Behavior ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Phone Survey

Phone surveys have increasingly become important data collection tools in developing countries, particularly in the context of sudden contact restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Phone surveys offer particular potential for migration scholars aiming to study cross-border migration behavior. Geographic change of location over time complicates the logistics of face-to-face surveys and heavily increases costs. There is, however, limited evidence of the effectiveness of the phone survey modes in different geographic settings more generally, and in migration research more specifically. In this field experiment, we compared the response rates between WhatsApp—a relatively new but increasingly important survey mode—and interactive voice response (IVR) modes, using a sample of 8446 contacts in Senegal and Guinea. At 12%, WhatsApp survey response rates were nearly eight percentage points lower than IVR survey response rates. However, WhatsApp offers higher survey completion rates, substantially lower costs and does not introduce more sample selection bias compared to IVR. We discuss the potential of WhatsApp surveys in low-income contexts and provide practical recommendations for field implementation.

scholarly journals Converting From Face-to-face to Postal Follow-up and Its Effects on Participant Retention, Response Rates and Errors: Lessons from the EQUAL study in the UK.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emer Regina Gates ◽  
Barnaby Hole ◽  
Samantha Hayward ◽  
Nicholas C Chesnaye ◽  
Yvette Meuleman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Response Rates ◽  
Error Rates ◽  
Symptom Index ◽  
Patient Response ◽  
Advanced Chronic Kidney Disease ◽  
Average Percentage ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Sf 36 ◽  
The Uk

Abstract BackgroundProspective cohort studies are challenging to deliver, with one of the main difficulties lying in retention of participants. The need to socially distance during the COVID-19 pandemic has added to this challenge. The pre-COVID-19 adaptation of the European Quality (EQUAL) study in the UK to a remote form of follow-up for efficiency provides lessons for those who are considering changing their study design.MethodsThe EQUAL study is an international prospective cohort study of patients ≥65 years of age with advanced chronic kidney disease. Initially, patients were invited to complete a questionnaire (SF-36, Dialysis Symptom Index and Renal Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire) at research clinics every 3-6 months, known as “traditional follow-up” (TFU). In 2018, all living patients were invited to switch to “efficient follow-up” (EFU), which used an abbreviated questionnaire consisting of SF-12 and Dialysis Symptom Index. These were administered centrally by post. Response rates were calculated using returned questionnaires as a proportion of surviving invitees, and error rates presented as the average percentage of unanswered questions or unclear answers, of total questions in returned questionnaires. Response and error rates were calculated 6-monthly in TFU to allow comparisons with EFU.ResultsOf the 504 patients initially recruited, 236 were still alive at the time of conversion to EFU; 111 of these (47%) consented to the change in follow-up. In those who consented, median TFU was 34 months, ranging from 0 to 42 months. Their response rates fell steadily from 88% (98/111) at month 0 of TFU, to 20% (3/15) at month 42. The response rate for the first EFU questionnaire was 60% (59/99) of those alive from TFU. With this improvement in response rates, the first EFU also lowered errors to baseline levels seen in early follow-up, after having almost trebled throughout traditional follow-up.ConclusionsOverall, this study demonstrates that administration of shorter follow-up questionnaires by post rather than in person does not negatively impact patient response or error rates. These results may be reassuring for researchers who are trying to limit face-to-face contact with patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Effects of a Prepaid Nonmonetary Incentive on Response Rates and Response Quality in a Face-to-Face Survey

1995 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane K. Willimack ◽  
Howard Schuman ◽  
Beth-Ellen Pennell ◽  
James M. Lepkowski
Keyword(s):  
Response Rates ◽  
Response Quality ◽  
Face To Face
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