title: Electronic mail was not better than postal mail for surveying residents and faculty.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare response rate, time to response, and data quality of electronic and postal surveys in the setting of postgraduate medical education.
  
  
  METHODS
  A randomized controlled trial in a university-based internal medicine residency program. We randomized 119 residents and 83 faculty to an electronic versus a postal survey with up to two reminders and measured response rate, time to response, and data quality.
  
  
  RESULTS
  For residents, the e-survey resulted in a lower response rate than the postal survey (63.3% versus 79.7%; difference -16.3%, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) -32.3% to -0.4%%; P=.049), but a shorter mean response time, by 3.8 days (95% CI 0.2-7.4; P=.042). For faculty, the e-survey did not result in a significantly lower response rate than the postal survey (85.4% vs. 81.0%; difference 4.4%, 95% CI -11.7 to 20.5%; P=.591), but resulted in a shorter average response time, by 8.4 days (95% CI 4.4 to 12.4; P < 0.001). There were no differences in the quality of data or responses to the survey between the two methods.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  E-surveys were not superior to postal surveys in terms of response rate, but resulted in shorter time to response and equivalent data quality.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, State University of New York, University at Buffalo, ECMC-CC 142, 462 Grider Street, Buffalo, NY 14215, USA.
authors.forename: Elie A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Akl
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Maroun
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Klocke
authors.forename: Victor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Montori
authors.forename: Holger J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Schünemann
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003625:Data Collection / Q000592:standards; D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate; D034742:Electronic Mail; D005178:Faculty; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009518:New York; D011177:Postal Service; D013997:Time Factors; D014495:Universities