title: Response rates of three modes of survey administration and survey preferences of rheumatoid arthritis patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare survey response rates and preferences for 3 modes of survey administration in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Adult RA patients were identified from Kaiser Permanente Southern California's electronic medical records. One hundred patients each were randomly assigned to telephone, mail with followup letter, and mail with followup telephone call as modes of survey administration. Respondents completed a 7-page survey (in English or Spanish) that included the Health Assessment Questionnaire disability index and pain scale, EuroQol 5-dimensions, and generic questions on preferences and sociodemographics. Response rates were based on the number of completed surveys received from the total number of patients contacted (n = 295; 5 were ineligible).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean ± SD age of the cohort was 61 ± 12.3 years, with the majority being women (141 [85%] of 166). Of the 3 modes of survey administration, telephone (63 [64%] of 99) had the highest response rate, followed by mail with followup telephone call (55 [56%] of 98) and mail with followup letter (48 [49%] of 98). When asked about preference over administration mode, 57% (95 of 166) preferred to complete the survey by mail, followed by telephone (27 [16%] of 166) and internet (17 [10%] of 166).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  When asked about their choice of survey administration mode for reporting their health status, the majority of RA patients in this study had a strong preference for a mail survey as compared to a telephone interview. However, the response rate in the telephone administration mode of survey was the highest between the 3 modes of administration that were compared. Future studies in RA can achieve better response using telephone over mail-in surveys.
authors: Southern California Permanente Medical Group, Pasadena.
authors: Ivett
authors: I
authors: Garcia
authors: Cecilia
authors: C
authors: Portugal
authors: Li-Hao
authors: LH
authors: Chu
authors: Aniket A
authors: AA
authors: Kawatkar
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000523:psychology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D057240:Patient Preference / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D057566:Self Report