title: Use of Admail and a geographic information system to send surveys to target populations.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This paper briefly describes the use of Canada Post Unaddressed Admail and a geographic information system (GIS) for survey distribution to a specific target population in a large, sparsely populated geographic area, and the effectiveness of this approach.
  
  
  METHODS
  Surveys were sent as Unaddressed Admail via Canada Post to a target population of people living within 5 km of a wind turbine in southwestern Ontario.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The overall response rate from 8 wind farms (in 8 counties) was 8.1%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This approach has the potential to save time and money, but low response rates are common, distribution is not precise and there is potential for selection bias. Despite these flaws, Unaddressed Admail is worth consideration for delivery of information, study-recruitment materials and surveys to rural, remote and specific target populations.
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health and Health Systems, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ont.
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Paller
authors.affiliation: School of Planning, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ont.
authors.forename: Tanya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Christidis
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health and Health Systems, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ont.
authors.forename: Shannon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Majowicz
authors.affiliation: Intelligent Health Solutions Inc., Kitchener, Ont.
authors.forename: Jeff
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Aramini
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health and Health Systems, and School of Planning, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ont.
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Law
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health and Health Systems, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ont.
authors.forename: Phil
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bigelow
mesh_terms: D034742:Electronic Mail; D040362:Geographic Information Systems; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006306:Health Surveys / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D009864:Ontario; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*