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Comparative Study
. 2006 Apr;49(2):90-5.

Does flattery work? A comparison of 2 different cover letters for an international survey of orthopedic surgeons

Pam Leece  1 , Mohit Bhandari, Sheila Sprague, Marc F Swiontkowski, Emil H Schemitsch, Paul Tornetta
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Does flattery work? A comparison of 2 different cover letters for an international survey of orthopedic surgeons

Pam Leece et al. Can J Surg. 2006 Apr.

Abstract
in English, French

Background: Surveys are an important tool for gaining information about physicians' beliefs, practice patterns and knowledge. However, the validity of surveys among physicians is often threatened by low response rates. We investigated whether response rates to an international survey could be increased using a more personalized cover letter.

Methods: We conducted an international survey of the 442 surgeon-members of the Orthopaedic Trauma Association on the treatment of femoral-neck fractures. We used previous literature, key informants and focus groups in developing the self-administered 8-page questionnaire. Half of the participants received the survey by mail, and half received an e-mail invitation to participate on the Internet. We alternately allocated participants to receive a "standard" or "test" cover letter.

Results: We found a higher primary response rate to the test cover letter (47%) than to the standard cover letter (30%) among those who received the questionnaire by mail. There was no difference between the response rates to the test and to the standard cover letters in the Internet group (22% v. 23%). Overall, there was a higher primary response rate for the test cover letter (34%) when both the mail and Internet groups were combined, compared with the standard cover letter (27%).

Conclusions: Our test cover letter to surgeons in our survey resulted in a significantly higher primary response rate than a standard cover letter when the survey was sent by mail. Researchers should consider using a more personalized cover letter with a postal survey to increase response rates.

Contexte: Les sondages sont un moyen important de réunir de l'information sur les croyances des médecins, les tendances de leur pratique et leurs connaissances. Les faibles taux de réponse menacent souvent toutefois la validité des sondages chez les médecins. Nous avons cherché à déterminer s'il serait possible d'augmenter les taux de réponse à un sondage international en utilisant une lettre d'accompagnement plus personnalisée.

Méthodes: Nous avons réalisé un sondage international sur le traitement des fractures du col du fémur auprès des 442 chirurgiens membres de l'Orthopaedic Trauma Association. Nous avons utilisé des publications, des personnes-ressources clés et des groupes de discussion pour créer un questionnaire de huit pages autoadministré. La moitié des participants ont reçu le questionnaire par la poste et la moitié ont été invités par courrier électronique à participer sur Internet. Nous avons réparti en alternance les participants pour qu'ils reçoivent une lettre d'accompagnement « type » ou « d'essai ».

Résultats: Nous avons constaté que la lettre d'accompagnement d'essai produisait un taux de réponse primaire plus élevé (47 %) que la lettre d'accompagnement type (30 %) chez les médecins qui ont reçu leur questionnaire par la poste. Il n'y avait aucune différence entre les taux de réponse aux lettres d'accompagnement d'essai et lettres types chez les membres du groupe Internet (22 % c. 23 %). Dans l'ensemble, la lettre d'accompagnement à l'essai a produit un taux de réponse primaire plus élevé (34 %) lorsque l'on combine les groupes qui l'ont reçue par la poste et par courriel comparativement à la lettre d'accompagnement type (27 %).

Conclusions: La lettre d'accompagnement d'essai que nous avons envoyée aux chirurgiens dans le cadre de notre sondage a produit un taux de réponse primaire beaucoup plus élevé que la lettre d'accompagnement type lorsque le questionnaire a été envoyé par la poste. Les chercheurs devraient envisager de joindre une lettre d'accompagnement plus personnalisée à un sondage postal afin d'augmenter les taux de réponse.

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Figures

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FIG. 1. Text for standard cover letter. The standard cover letter was a modified version of the cover letter recommended by Dillman. 9 We sent this standard cover letter by mail ( n = 111) or by email ( n = 111) to participants, inviting them to complete our survey.
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FIG. 2. Text for test cover letter. The test cover letter used a more personal approach, which stressed the importance of the individual's response. We sent this test cover letter by mail ( n = 110) or by email ( n = 110) to participants, inviting them to complete our survey.
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FIG. 3. Administration of the survey. We administered the survey to the 442 surgeon-members of the Orthopaedic Trauma Association (OTA). The participants were alternately allocated to receive either a “standard” or a novel “test” cover letter. Three follow-up contacts were initiated for all nonrespondents at 6 and 12 weeks and a final mailing between 19 and 22 weeks. At the final follow-up, 142 participants who had received the test cover letter responded, compared with 139 participants who had received the standard cover letter.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

  • Flattery.
    Waddell JP. Waddell JP. Can J Surg. 2006 Apr;49(2):85-6. Can J Surg. 2006. PMID: 16630417 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

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