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Telephone health surveys: potential bias from noncompletion
S I Mishra1, D Dooley, R Catalano
1Department of Medicine, University of California-Irvine 92717.
American Journal of Public Health
|January 1, 1993
Summary
Passive refusals significantly impact telephone survey completion rates and introduce bias. Addressing this undercounted factor is crucial for accurate health issue reporting in surveys.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Survey Methodology
- Health Services Research
Background:
- Noncompletion in telephone surveys can bias health issue findings.
- Passive refusal, a type of noncompletion, is often overlooked.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify passive refusal as a source of noncompletion in health surveys.
- To evaluate the contribution of passive refusal, noncooperation, and noncontact to noncompletion bias.
- To assess the impact of noncompletion bias on health indicators.
Main Methods:
- Utilized data from 4893 respondents in the Orange County Health Surveys.
- Employed random-digit dialing and computer-assisted telephone interviewing.
- Measured noncompletion types (noncooperation, passive refusal, noncontact), demographics, health risks, and health status.
Main Results:
- Passive refusals significantly affect survey completion rates and introduce bias.
- Standard completion rate definitions may underestimate bias by excluding passive refusals.
- After controlling for demographics, minimal noncompletion bias was observed on selected health indicators.
Conclusions:
- Improved reporting of completion rates in telephone health surveys is recommended.
- A multivariate framework is supported for analyzing noncompletion in health surveys.