Jennifer Dykema

Surveying Clinicians by Web: Current Issues in Design and Administration

The versatility, speed, and reduced costs with which web surveys can be conducted with clinicians are often offset by low response rates. Drawing on best practices and general recommendations in the literature, we provide an evidence-based overview of methods for conducting online surveys with providers. We highlight important advantages and disadvantages of conducting provider surveys online and include a review of differences in response rates between web and mail surveys of clinicians. When administered online, design-based features affect rates of survey participation and data quality. We examine features likely to have an impact including sample frames, incentives, contacts (type, timing, and content), mixed-mode approaches, and questionnaire length. We make several recommendations regarding optimal web-based designs, but more empirical research is needed, particularly with regard to identifying which combinations of incentive and contact approaches yield the highest response rates and are the most cost-effective.

An Attributional Style Questionnaire for General Use

Explanatory style is a cognitive personality variable with diverse correlates reflecting good versus bad adaptation. It is usually measured with the Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ), but existing versions of this instrument can be difficult for research participants to complete without close supervision. We describe a new version of the ASQ and its use in a mail survey of 146 college students. Results support its efficiency, reliability, and validity. A satisfactory response rate of 70%o was attained. Very few items were omitted among the questionnaires returned (1.3%). Subscale reliabilities were satisfactory (alphas > .70), and the new ASQ correlated with reports of depressive symptoms (rs > .28), suggesting its appropriateness for general use with adults, including survey research.

Effects of Incentives and Prenotification on Response Rates and Costs in a National Web Survey of Physicians

Little is known about what strategies are cost-effective in increasing participation among physicians in surveys that are conducted exclusively via the web. To assess the effects of incentives and prenotification on response rates and costs, general internists (N = 3,550) were randomly selected from the American Medical Association (AMA) Masterfile and assigned to experimental groups that varied in the amount of a promised incentive (none, entry into a

Effects of E-Mailed Versus Mailed Invitations and Incentives on Response Rates, Data Quality, and Costs in a Web Survey of University Faculty

200 lottery,

Events, instruments, and reporting errors

50, or

The effects of response option order and question order on self-rated health

100) and prenotification (none, prenotification letter only, or prenotification letter containing a

Interviewing Practices, Conversational Practices, and Rapport Responsiveness and Engagement in the Standardized Survey Interview

2 preincentive). Results indicated that the response rates were highest in the groups promised

The effect of response option order on self-rated health: a replication study

100 and

How participants report their health status: cognitive interviews of self-rated health across race/ethnicity, gender, age, and educational attainment

50, respectively. While the postal prenotification letter increased response rates, the inclusion of a small token

Trends and Correlates of Consenting to Provide Social Security Numbers Longitudinal Findings from the General Social Survey (1993–2010)

2 preincentive had no effect on participation. Further, unlike mail surveys of physicians, the