Reaching emergency medical services providers: is one survey mode better than another?

Abstract

Objectives: To determine which mode of completing a survey yields the highest response rate among emergency medical services (EMS) providers, examine rural and urban differences, and determine the completeness of questions by mode of response.

Methods: A random sample of EMS providers was mailed one of the following: 1) a paper survey, with instructions to return it via the enclosed self-addressed, stamped envelope; 2) a letter, with instructions to complete the survey at the provided URL (Web address); or 3) a paper survey with a self-addressed, stamped envelope and a URL, with the option of choosing the mode of response. We compared response rates based on the three different modes. We conducted analysis of the number of skipped multiple-choice and open-ended questions by mode and content analysis of the open-ended questions.

Results: The paper-only option resulted in the highest response rate (40.4%, p = 0.003) compared with the response rates from Web-only and choice of mode. Overall, rural EMS providers responded at a higher rate than urban EMS providers (40.3% vs. 31.6%, respectively [p = 0.0002]). Web respondents were more likely to complete all the open-ended questions (p = 0.003). Almost a fourth (22.8%) of the paper respondents skipped multiple-choice questions. There was a pattern of more complete responses for open-ended questions among the Web-based participants, but this was not significant (p = 0.17).

Conclusion: EMS providers seem to prefer a more traditional mode (paper) when responding to a survey. Rural providers are more likely to respond. Mode of response influences the number of skipped questions but does not impact the quality of open-ended answers.