title: Impact of participant incentives and direct and snowball sampling on survey response rate in an ethnically diverse community: results from a pilot study of physical activity and the built environment.
abstract: Community-wide efforts to encourage healthy behaviours must respond to the needs of existing neighbourhoods, especially those where low physical activity (PA) is associated with social, economic, and cultural challenges. This study reports on the effect of direct and snowball sampling strategies and financial incentive levels on the response rates of a built environment and PA survey in a predominately urban, low-SES new-immigrant community. Women residing in the Jane-Finch neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario were selected to participate by quasi-random sampling, yielding a response rate of 41.5%. The survey completion rate per contact attempt increased 2-fold when incentives were increased from $10 to $20 and a further threefold following the increase from $20 to $30. Snowball sampled respondents were older, less likely to have full-time employment, and had lower educational attainment than directly sampled participants. With appropriate incentives, face-to-face contact, and snowball sampling, survey-based research is feasible within a low-SES, high minority population.
authors.affiliation: School of Kinesiology and Health Science, York University, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada. danielfelipeperez@gmail.com
authors.forename: Daniel F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Perez
authors.forename: Jason X
authors.initials: JX
authors.lastname: Nie
authors.forename: Chris I
authors.initials: CI
authors.lastname: Ardern
authors.forename: Natasha
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Radhu
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ritvo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003256:Community Participation; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004779:Environment Design; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods; D006306:Health Surveys / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D009042:Motivation; D009043:Motor Activity; D009864:Ontario / Q000453:epidemiology; D018579:Patient Selection; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012111:Residence Characteristics