ArticleThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners1998
'So much post, so busy with practice--so, no time!': a telephone survey of general practitioners' reasons for not participating in postal questionnaire surveys.
Article in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 1998. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 50 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
50 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Barriers and Enablers of Primary Healthcare Professionals in Health Research Engagement: A Systematic Review of Qualitative Studies.Nursing & health sciences · 2025Pooled it
- National survey of physicians to determine the effect of unconditional incentives on response rates of physician postal surveys.BMJ open · 2015Trial
- Do incentives, reminders or reduced burden improve healthcare professional response rates in postal questionnaires? two randomised controlled trials.BMC health services research · 2012Trial
- Cognitive-behavioral therapy in depressed primary care patients with co-occurring problematic alcohol use: effect of telephone-administered vs. face-to-face treatment-a secondary analysis.Journal of psychoactive drugsTrial
- "Helpful in Thinking Through the Question": Redesigning the Patient Health Questionnaire-8 for Depression Assessment to Enhance Patient Engagement and Understanding.JMIR human factors · 2026Article
- International survey of people living with chronic conditions (PaRIS survey): effects of general practitioner non-participation on the representativeness of the Norwegian patient data.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Article
- Assessment of Healthcare Professionals' Knowledge and Understanding of the Risk of Blood Typing Interference with Daratumumab: A Survey of 12 European Countries.Advances in therapy · 2021Article
- Recruitment and participation of a survey in a public-private primary care setting: experience from the QUALICOPC Malaysia.Primary health care research & development · 2020Article
- Occupational Physicians' Perspectives on Determinants of Employee Participation in a Randomized Controlled Musculoskeletal Health Promotion Measure: A Qualitative Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- 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
- Prepared for practice and equipped for employment: what do dental foundation trainers think of their trainees?British dental journal · 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
- CT colonography: a survey of general practitioners' knowledge and interest.La Radiologia medica · 2016Article
- General practitioners perceptions on advance care planning for patients living with dementia.BMC palliative care · 2015Article
- Maximising response from GPs to questionnaire surveys: do length or incentives make a difference?BMC medical research methodology · 2015Article
- Surveying multiple health professional team members within institutional settings: an example from the nursing home industry.Evaluation & the health professions · 2014Article
- Gaining information about home visits in primary care: methodological issues from a feasibility study.BMC family practice · 2014Article
- Are healthcare workers at higher risk of HIV infection than the general population in Burkina Faso?Epidemiology and infection · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundResponse rates by general practitioners (GPs) to postal surveys have consistently fallen, compromising the validity of this type of research. If postal survey work is to continue we need to understand GPs' reasons for not participating and respond appropriately.
aimTo investigate GPs' reasons for not responding to postal surveys.
methodA qualitative study was carried out to determine GPs reasons for not participating in postal surveys, which were drawn from a telephone survey of 276 non-responders to a postal questionnaire survey. Practitioners' comments were recorded and reasons for their non-response quantified using content analysis.
resultsPrimary reasons for GPs not replying to the postal survey were that questionnaires had got lost in paperwork (34%), that GPs were too busy for the extra work involved (21%), and that questionnaires were routinely 'binned' (16%). Higher practice workloads, including increased administration, meant that participation in research had become a low priority. GPs provided some suggestions for researchers that would increase their chances of questionnaires being returned.
conclusionsResearchers need to be aware of the pressures of service general practice and to rationalize the amount of research material sent to GPs. GPs were most likely to respond to postal surveys that had a high interest factor, that involved localized research relevant to general practice, and that incorporated a personalized approach by researchers, including good-quality explanatory information.
Indexed as
Identifiers
9624749PMC1410021What 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.