Health surveys via the Internet: Quick and dirty or rapid and robust?

Fischbacher, Colin; Chappel, David; Edwards, Richard; Summerton, Nick

doi:10.1177/014107680009300705

Cited by 39 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Dillman and colleagues 35 proposed the use of 3 follow-up "waves": an initial reminder postcard sent 1 week after the initial mailing of the questionnaire to the entire sample, and 2 reminders (a letter plus replacement questionnaire) sent at 3 and 7 weeks to nonrespondents, with the final letter and replacement questionnaire sent by certified mail. As with postal surveys, the use of reminders with electronic surveys of health professionals have been found by several authors [36][37][38] to increase response rates substantively.…”

Section: Response Rate and Estimation Of Sample Sizementioning

confidence: 99%

A guide for the design and conduct of self-administered surveys of clinicians

Burns¹,

Duffett²,

Kho³

et al. 2008

Canadian Medical Association Journal

1,030

891

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Survey research is an important form of scientific inquiry 1 that merits rigorous design and analysis. 2 The aim of a survey is to gather reliable and unbiased data from a representative sample of respondents.3 Increasingly, investigators administer questionnaires to clinicians about their knowledge, attitudes and practice 2,4,5 to generate or refine research questions and to evaluate the impact of clinical research on practice. Questionnaires can be descriptive (reporting factual data) or explanatory (drawing inferences between constructs or concepts) and can explore several constructs at a time. Questionnaires can be informal, conducted as preparatory work for future studies, or formal, with specific objectives and outcomes.Rigorous questionnaires can be challenging and labour-intensive to develop, test and administer without the help of a systematic approach. 5 In this article, we outline steps to design, develop, test and administer valid questionnaires with minimal bias and optimal response rates. We focus on selfadministered postal and electronic surveys of clinicians that are amenable to quantitative analysis. We highlight differences between postal and electronic administration of surveys and review strategies that enhance response rates and reporting transparency. Although intended to assist in the conduct of rigorous self-administered surveys, our article may also help clinicians in the appraisal of published surveys.

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Section: Response Rate and Estimation Of Sample Sizementioning

confidence: 99%

A guide for the design and conduct of self-administered surveys of clinicians

Burns¹,

Duffett²,

Kho³

et al. 2008

Canadian Medical Association Journal

1,030

891

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The internet can also be used as a medium for health research-using online interviews, focus groups and quantitative survey methods 21,22 .…”

Section: The Internet As a Tool For The Delivery Of Healthcarementioning

confidence: 99%

The Doctor, The Patient and the World-Wide Web: How the Internet is Changing Healthcare

2003

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To understand individual use of the internet and its impact on individuals, communities and societies is a challenge that is only beginning to be addressed. There are more than 580 million internet users world wide 1 , and over 16 million active users of the world-wide web in the UK 2 . This is more than the estimated number of UK smokers yet little has been done to assess the potential health impact of the internet. New developments will lead to further growth in internet usage, and this medium is increasingly being employed for health information and healthcare delivery. Clinicians need to understand the possibilities of this technology, and to be aware of potential threats to health. THE INTERNET AS A RESOURCE FOR HEALTH INFORMATIONOne of the main uses of the internet is as an encyclopaedic information resource. Surveys consistently show that 60-80% of world-wide-web users have used it to obtain health information 3,4 . The internet has the potential to educate and empower the health consumer, by providing information on health and health services and supporting self-help and patient choice. The 'expert patient' can only become expert if he or she can access and use information, and the internet can support the increasing role of consumers in their healthcare 5 . Two-thirds of those using the internet to find health information claim it has some impact on their healthcare decisions 3 . Consumers value the anonymity, convenience and quantity of information 6 .Many concerns have been raised about the quality of online consumer health information, and the possibility that poor information has detrimental effects on health. A systematic review of 79 studies investigating the quality of online health information revealed that the methodology and rigour of these studies varies widely, as do the findings 7 . The information is often incomplete and sometimes inaccurate, although good quality material can be found. While consumers state that they pay heed to the credibility of internet sites, in practice little evaluation is carried out and users seldom remember the sites from which they retrieved information 8 . The quality of internet information needs to be examined in the wider context of imperfect health information generally 9 , and there is little reason to view the internet as radically different from other information sources 10 . While there have been isolated case reports of individuals coming to harm from information on the internet, there is no systematic evidence that more harm arises from this medium than from others 11 . DAERI (the Database of Adverse Events Related to the Internet) has been established at the University of Heidelberg to monitor this area [www.medcertain.org/daeri/]. Perhaps the difference that the internet is making to consumer health information is one of quantity rather than one of quality. The quality of information has always varied; the internet has simply increased the quantity and the ease of access. Education of consumers or content producers may help reduce the spread of poor...

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“…Previous work has suggested that internet follow-up creates case-mix bias whereby different people respond to particular methods of follow-up [8], A large proportion of the population now have access to the internet. It may no longer be true that those with access to the internet are better educated, younger, wealthier and healthier as was once the case [9], and a recent survey reported similar characteristics of people with and without valid e-mail addresses [10], although a second study found females were more engaged with electronic communication than men [11]. Certainly, web-based questionnaires are only useful in people who are computer literate and who frequently open their mail [12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%