title: Physician participation in research surveys. A randomized study of inducements to return mailed research questionnaires.
abstract: The authors randomly selected 400 physicians from a population of 1,545 practicing physicians providing follow-up care to patients who received bone marrow or blood stem cell transplants at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center to determine interest in receiving Internet-based transplant information. In a two-factor completely randomized factorial design, the 400 physicians were assigned to receive mailed surveys with either no compensation or a $5 check and either no follow-up call or a follow-up call 3 weeks after mailing. Overall, 51.5% of the physicians returned the mailed surveys. Comparison of logit models showed that inclusion of a $5 check in the mailer significantly (p = .016) increased the probability of returning the surveys (57.5% vs. 45.5%). In contrast, the telephone follow-up had no overall effect. The authors concluded a modest financial reward can significantly improve physician response rates to research surveys but a telephone follow-up may be inefficient and even ineffective.
authors.affiliation: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA 98104, USA. gdonalds@fhcrc.org
authors.forename: G W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Donaldson
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Moinpour
authors.forename: N E
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Bush
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chapko
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jocom
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Siadak
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nielsen-Stoeck
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Bradshaw
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Bichindaritz
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Sullivan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000359:Aftercare; D000368:Aged; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007255:Information Services; D020407:Internet; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D016377:Organ Transplantation; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology*; D012106:Research; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States