ArticleBMJ (Clinical research ed.)1996
General practice postal surveys: a questionnaire too far?
Article in BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 1996. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 94 papers.
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
94 citing papers in PubMed.
- Trial
- Effect of prize draw incentive on the response rate to a postal survey of obstetricians and gynaecologists: a randomised controlled trial. [ISRCTN32823119].BMC health services research · 2004Trial
- Provision of pen along with questionnaire does not increase the response rate to a postal survey: a randomised controlled trial.Journal of epidemiology and community health · 2001Trial
- Effect of paper quality on the response rate to a postal survey: a randomised controlled trial. ISRCTN 32032031.BMC medical research methodology · 2001Trial
- Sex and attitude: a randomized vignette study of the management of depression by general practitioners.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 1999Trial
- Randomised controlled trial of the READER method of critical appraisal in general practice.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 1998Trial
- Prescriptions of Essentially Placebo Treatments Among General Practitioners in 21 Countries.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- Patient experience of virtual urogynaecology services during Covid-19 pandemic.International urogynecology journal · 2023Article
- Introducing Advanced Paramedics into the rural general practice team in Ireland - general practitioners attitudes.BMC primary care · 2022Article
- Questionnaire surveys - sources of error and implications for design, reporting and appraisal.British dental journal · 2021Article
- General practitioners' deprescribing decisions in older adults with polypharmacy: a case vignette study in 31 countries.BMC geriatrics · 2021Article
- White-coat hypertension: management and adherence to guidelines by European and Canadian GPs. A cross-sectional clinical vignette study.BJGP open · 2019Article
- Challenges of diagnosing and managing polymyalgia rheumatica: a multi-methods study in UK general practice.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2018Article
- How general practitioners would deprescribe in frail oldest-old with polypharmacy - the LESS study.BMC family practice · 2018Article
- Knowledge is power: general practitioners prescribing of new oral anticoagulants in Ireland.BMC research notes · 2018Article
- Perioperative care for lumbar microdiscectomy: a survey of Australasian neurosurgeons.Journal of spine surgery (Hong Kong) · 2018Article
- Burden of cardiovascular disease across 29 countries and GPs' decision to treat hypertension in oldest-old.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2018Article
- Article
- General practitioners in Styria - who is willing to take part in research projects and why? : A survey by the Institute of General Practice and Health Services Research.Wiener klinische Wochenschrift · 2017Article
- Variation in GP decisions on antihypertensive treatment in oldest-old and frail individuals across 29 countries.BMC geriatrics · 2017Article
34 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
A primary care led NHS, driven by evidence based practice, needs to build on a firm foundation of research in primary care. As researchers are making increasing use of questionnaire surveys to assess general practitioners' views and attitudes, so response rates to questionnaire surveys among general practitioners are dropping. The reasons include lack of perceived relevance of the research and lack of information and feedback about it, and researchers need to be more aware of the realities of everyday practice. Approaches that might reverse this trend include monitoring all research activities going on in an area to ensure that practices are not overused, giving general practitioners incentives to participate, and improving the relevance of research and the quality of questionnaires.
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.