ArticlePloS one2018
A method for achieving high response rates in national surveys of U.S. primary care physicians.
Article in PloS one, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 75 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
75 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Methods to increase response to postal and electronic questionnaires.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2023Pooled 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
- Trial
- Randomized Study of Survey Recruitment Strategies for Parents of Autistic Children.Journal of pediatric health care : official publication of National Association of Pediatric Nurse Associates & PractitionersTrial
- Staff satisfaction with the use of bedside electronic transfusion checks at three hospitals in London.Vox sanguinis · 2026Article
- A Randomized Experiment of Mailed Incentives to Improve Emergency Physician Survey Participation.Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine · 2026Article
- Internal Medicine Residents' Challenges in Trauma-Informed Care and Impact on Patient Care: A Multiple-Methods Study.Journal of general internal medicine · 2026Article
- Knowledge, risk perceptions and practices regarding mosquito-borne arboviral diseases among physicians in Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany: A cross-sectional questionnaire-based analysis.Public health in practice (Oxford, England) · 2026Article
- Outpatient drug therapy for children with heart disease in Switzerland: a survey.European journal of pediatrics · 2026Article
- Acceptable accuracy for medical AI: a survey of physicians and the general population in Sweden.BMJ health & care informatics · 2026Article
- HPV Vaccination Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviors Among Clinic Teams in North Texas.Journal of cancer education : the official journal of the American Association for Cancer Education · 2026Article
- Article
- Participation Rates in 11 National Dental Practice-Based Research Network Surveys 2014-2022.Evaluation & the health professions · 2025Article
- A Greek Nationwide Survey About Sources of Information on Seasonal Influenza and COVID-19 Vaccination Used by Healthcare Facility Staff During the Pandemic.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Increasing Participation and Completion Rates in Questionnaire Surveys of Primary Care Patients: Cluster-Randomized Study.Interactive journal of medical research · 2025Article
- Electronic Health Record Use Patterns Among Well-Being Survey Responders and Nonresponders: Longitudinal Observational Study.JMIR medical informatics · 2025Observational
- The impact of moral resilience on nurse turnover intentions: the mediating role of job burnout in a cross-sectional study.BMC nursing · 2024Article
- Evaluating strategies to recruit health researchers to participate in online survey research.BMC medical research methodology · 2024Article
- Article
- Patient Impression of Improvement 1 year After Sacrospinous Hysteropexy Versus Vaginal Hysterectomy in Women with Pelvic Organ Prolapse Stage 2 or Higher.International urogynecology journal · 2024Article
15 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
Abstract
Physician questionnaires are commonly used in health services research; however, many survey studies are limited by low response rate. We describe the effectiveness of a method to maximize survey response without using incentives, the effectiveness of survey reminders over time, and differences in response rates based on survey mode and primary care specialty. As part of a study to assess vaccine policy issues, 13 separate surveys were conducted by internet and mail over the period of 2008 to 2013. Surveys were conducted among pre-recruited networks of pediatricians, family physicians and general internists. Each network was active for 2 years and responded to 3-6 surveys. Physicians who indicated preference to respond through an online survey received up to 9 e-mailed requests to complete the questionnaire and up to 2 mailed questionnaires. Physicians who chose to respond by mail received up to 3 mailed questionnaires and a reminder postcard. For 6 of the 13 surveys conducted over the 6 year period, an additional mailing using a hand-addressed envelope was mailed to non-responders at the end of the usual protocol. Effectiveness of survey methods was measured by response rates. The overall response rates varied from 66‒83%. Response rates declined 17 percentage-points on average between the first and last surveys administered within each physician network. The internet group consistently had higher response rates than the mail group (74% vs. 62% on average). An additional mailing in a hand-written envelope boosted the final response rate by 11 percentage-points. Self-selection of survey mode, multiple reminders, and hand-written envelopes are effective methods for maximizing response rates in physician surveys.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.