Trial reportJournal of medical Internet research2016
Incentive and Reminder Strategies to Improve Response Rate for Internet-Based Physician Surveys: A Randomized Experiment.
Trial report in Journal of medical Internet research, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03021863 (How Frequently and in What Format Are Research Trial Results Disseminated to Participants? A Survey of Trialists and Response Questionnaire Trial), which is not on this map. Cited by 102 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.
How Frequently and in What Format Are Research Trial Results Disseminated to Participants? A Survey of Trialists and Response Questionnaire Trial
Who cites it
102 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
- Metrics for quantifying antibiotic use in the hospital setting: results from a systematic review and international multidisciplinary consensus procedure.The Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy · 2018Pooled it
- A Brief Educational Intervention to Increase ED Initiation of Buprenorphine for Opioid Use Disorder (OUD).Journal of medical toxicology : official journal of the American College of Medical Toxicology · 2022Trial
- Willingness of Women with Endometriosis Planning to Undergo IVF to Participate in a Randomized Clinical Trial and the Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Potential Participation.Reproductive sciences (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) · 2022Trial
- Effects of personalized invitation letters on research participation among general practitioners: a randomized trial.BMC medical research methodology · 2021Trial
- Trial
- Altruistic donation to improve survey responses: a global randomized trial.BMC research notes · 2019Trial
- 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
- Article
- Breathing Under Pressure: Psychological Burden and Recovery Trajectories in Patients Receiving Non-Invasive Respiratory Support from Acute COVID-19 to Respiratory Rehabilitation.Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Surgical management of gastroesophageal reflux disease after sleeve gastrectomy with satisfactory weight loss: a SOFFCO-MM practice survey.Langenbeck's archives of surgery · 2026Article
- Utilization of Imaging in Young Athletes with Low Back Pain.International journal of sports physical therapy · 2026Article
- Article
- Current practices, attitudes and barriers to paediatric lipid screening and management amongst Family Physicians and Paediatricians in British Columbia.Paediatrics & child health · 2025Article
- Assessing rates of dietary counseling in obstetric patients with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and related conditions.Pregnancy hypertension · 2025Article
- Healthcare professionals' awareness of and barriers to shared-clinical-decision-making for HPV vaccination among adults 27-45 years.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2025Article
- Antiarrhythmic drug use in atrial fibrillation among different European countries - as determined by a physician survey.International journal of cardiology. Heart & vasculature · 2025Article
- Behind closed doors: a qualitative study exploring the content of fertility discussions between oncologists and their adolescent and young adult cancer patients from the perspective of oncologists at an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2025Article
- An app to keep: smartphone-based dispatch of community first responder to cardiac arrest.BMC cardiovascular disorders · 2025Article
- Preoperative Anxiety Management Practices in Pediatric Anesthesia: Comparative Analysis of an Online Survey Presented to Experts and Social Media Users.JMIR pediatrics and parenting · 2025Article
42 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMost research on how to enhance response rates in physician surveys has been done using paper surveys. Uncertainties remain regarding how to enhance response rates in Internet-based surveys.
objectiveTo evaluate the impact of a low-cost nonmonetary incentive and paper mail reminders (formal letter and postcard) on response rates in Internet-based physician surveys.
methodsWe executed a factorial-design randomized experiment while conducting a nationally representative Internet-based physician survey. We invited 3966 physicians (randomly selected from a commercial database of all licensed US physicians) via email to complete an Internet-based survey. We used 2 randomly assigned email messages: one message offered a book upon survey completion, whereas the other did not mention the book but was otherwise identical. All nonrespondents received several email reminders. Some physicians were further assigned at random to receive 1 reminder via paper mail (either a postcard or a letter) or no paper reminder. The primary outcome of this study was the survey response rate.
resultsOf the 3966 physicians who were invited, 451 (11.4%) responded to at least one survey question and 336 (8.5%) completed the entire survey. Of those who were offered a book, 345/2973 (11.6%) responded compared with 106/993 (10.7%) who were not offered a book (odds ratio 1.10, 95% CI 0.87-1.38, P=.42). Regarding the paper mail reminder, 168/1572 (10.7%) letter recipients, 148/1561 (9.5%) postcard recipients, and 69/767 (9.0%) email-only recipients responded (P=.35). The response rate for those receiving letters or postcards was similar (odds ratio 1.14, 95% CI 0.91-1.44, P=.26).
conclusionsOffering a modest nonmonetary incentive and sending a paper reminder did not improve survey response rate. Further research on how to enhance response rates in Internet-based physician surveys is needed.
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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.