SynthesisPloS one2011
The effects of tracking responses and the day of mailing on physician survey response rate: three randomized trials.
Synthesis in PloS one, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Methods to increase response to postal and electronic questionnaires.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2023Pooled it
- The effectiveness of recruitment strategies on general practitioner's survey response rates - a systematic review.BMC medical research methodology · 2014Pooled it
- Effect of Recruitment Methods on Response Rate in a Web-Based Study for Primary Care Physicians: Factorial Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2018Trial
- The effect of reminders in a web-based intervention study.European journal of epidemiology · 2012Trial
- Article
- Primary Care Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment for Adolescent Substance Use in Lebanon: A National Cross-sectional Study.Substance abuse : research and treatment · 2021Article
- What Factors Are Associated With Response Rates for Long-term Follow-up Questionnaire Studies in Hand Surgery?Clinical orthopaedics and related research · 2020Article
- Factors affecting the use of clinical practice guidelines by hospital physicians: the interplay of IT infrastructure and physician attitudes.Implementation science : IS · 2020Article
- Approaches to management of cardiovascular morbidity in adult cancer patients - cross-sectional survey among cardio-oncology experts.Cardio-oncology (London, England) · 2020Article
- Effect of numbering of return envelopes on participation, explicit refusals, and bias: experiment and meta-analysis.BMC medical research methodology · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe response rates to physician postal surveys remain modest. The primary objective of this study was to assess the effect of tracking responses on physician survey response rate (i.e., determining whether each potential participant has responded or not). A secondary objective was to assess the effects of day of mailing (Monday vs. Friday) on physician survey response rate.
methodsWe conducted 3 randomized controlled trials. The first 2 trials had a 2 x 2 factorial design and tested the effect of day of mailing (Monday vs. Friday) and of tracking vs. no tracking responses. The third trial tested the effect of day of mailing (Monday vs. Friday). We meta-analyzed these 3 trials using a random effects model.
resultsThe total number of participants in the 3 trials was 1339. The response rate with tracked mailing was not statistically different from that with non-tracked mailing by the time of the first reminder (RR = 1.01 95% CI 0.84, 1.22; I² = 0%). There was a trend towards lower response rate with tracked mailing by the time of the second reminder (RR = 0.91; 95% CI 0.78, 1.06; I² = 0%). The response rate with mailing on Mondays was not statistically different from that with Friday mailing by the time of first reminder (RR = 1.01; 95% CI 0.87, 1.17; I² = 0%), and by the time of the 2(nd) reminder (RR = 1.08; 95% CI 0.84, 1.39; I² = 77%).
conclusionsTracking response may negatively affect physicians' response rate. The day of mailing does not appear to affect physicians' response rate.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.