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Reducing questionnaire length did not improve physician response rate: a randomized trial

Eva E Bolt¹, Agnes van der Heide², Bregje D Onwuteaka-Philipsen¹

¹VU University Medical Center, Department of Public and Occupational Health and EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VUmc Expertise Center for Palliative Care, Van der Boechorstraat 7, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Journal of Clinical Epidemiology

|December 3, 2013

Abstract

Objectives:

To examine the effect of reducing questionnaire length on the response rate in a physician survey.

Study Design And Setting:

A postal four double-page questionnaire on end-of-life decision making was sent to a random sample of 1,100 general practitioners, 400 elderly care physicians, and 500 medical specialists. Another random sample of 500 medical specialists received a shorter questionnaire of two double pages. After 3 months and one reminder, all nonresponding physicians received an even shorter questionnaire of one double page.

Results:

Total response was 64% (1,456 of 2,269 eligible respondents). Response rate of medical specialists for the four double-page questionnaire was equal to that of the two double-page questionnaire (190 and 191 questionnaires were returned, respectively). The total response rate increased from 53% to 64% after sending a short one double-page questionnaire (1,203-1,456 respondents).

Conclusion:

The results of our study suggest that reducing the length of a long questionnaire in a physician survey does not necessarily improve response rate. To improve response rate and gather more information, researchers could decide to send a drastically shortened version of the questionnaire to nonresponders.

Keywords:

Data collection Health-care surveys Physician surveys Questionnaire design Questionnaire length Response rate

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