the effects of tracking responses and the day of mailing on physician survey response rate three randomized trials跟踪反应的影响和邮件的日子医生调查反应率三个随机试验.pdf

The Effects of Tracking Responses and the Day of Mailing on Physician Survey Response Rate: Three Randomized Trials 1,2,3 2 3 4 2 1 Elie A. Akl *, Swarna Gaddam , Reem Mustafa , Mark C. Wilson , Andrew Symons , Ann Grifasi , 2 ¨ 3 Denise McGuigan , Holger J. Schunemann 1 Department of Medicine, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, United States of America, 2 Department of Family Medicine, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, United States of America, 3 Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, 4 Department of Internal Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, United States of America Abstract Background: The response rates to physician postal surveys remain modest. The primary objective of this study was to assess the effect of tracking responses on physician survey response rate (i.e., determining whether each potential participant has responded or not). A secondary objective was to assess the effects of day of mailing (Monday vs. Friday) on physician survey response rate. Methods: We conducted 3 randomized controlled trials. The first 2 trials had a 2 62 factorial design and tested the effect of day of mailing (Monday vs. Friday) and of tracking vs. no tracking responses. The third trial tested the effect of day of mailing (Monday vs. Friday). We meta-analyzed these 3 trials using a random effects model. Results: The total number of participants in the 3 trials was 1339. The response rate with tracked mailing was not statistically different from that with non-tracked mailing