title: A randomized trial of the impact of survey design characteristics on response rates among nursing home providers.
abstract: An experiment was conducted to maximize participation of both the Director of Nursing (DoN) and the Administrator (ADMIN) in long-term care facilities. Providers in each of the 224 randomly selected facilities were randomly assigned to 1 of 16 conditions based on the combination of data collection mode (web vs. mail), questionnaire length (short vs. long), and incentive structure. Incentive structures were determined by amount compensated if the individual completed and an additional amount per individual if the pair completed (a) $30 individual/$5 pair/$35 total; (b) $10 individual/$25 pair/$35 total; (c) $30 individual/$20 pair/$50 total; and (d) $10 individual/$40 pair/$50 total. Overall, 47.4% of eligible respondents participated; both respondents participated in 29.3% of facilities. In multivariable analyses, there were no differences in the likelihood of both respondents participating by mode, questionnaire length, or incentive structure. Providing incentives contingent on participation by both providers of a facility was an ineffective strategy for significantly increasing response rates.
authors.affiliation: Program in Public Health, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA. Melissa_Clark@brown.edu
authors.forename: Melissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rogers
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Foster
authors.forename: Faye
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dvorchak
authors.forename: Frances
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Saadeh
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Weaver
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Mor
mesh_terms: D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D019538:Health Care Surveys / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006270:Health Facility Administrators / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008134:Long-Term Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D009042:Motivation; D009718:Nurse Administrators / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009735:Nursing Homes / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011177:Postal Service / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012107:Research Design; D000078329:Workforce