Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2018 Jul 16:7:1083.
doi: 10.12688/f1000research.14591.2. eCollection 2018.

A study update newsletter or Post-it® note did not increase postal questionnaire response rates in a falls prevention trial: an embedded randomised factorial trial

Sara Rodgers  1 , Illary Sbizzera  1 , Sarah Cockayne  1 , Caroline Fairhurst  1 , Sarah E Lamb  2 , Wesley Vernon  3 , Judith Watson  1 , Catherine Hewitt  1 , David Torgerson  1
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

A study update newsletter or Post-it® note did not increase postal questionnaire response rates in a falls prevention trial: an embedded randomised factorial trial

Sara Rodgers et al. F1000Res. .

Abstract

Background: Participants not returning data collection questionnaires is a problem for many randomised controlled trials. The resultant loss of data leads to a reduction in statistical power and can result in bias. The aim of this study was to assess whether the use of a study update newsletter and/or a handwritten or printed Post-it® note sticker increased postal questionnaire response rates for participants of a randomised controlled trial. Method: This study was a factorial trial embedded within a host trial of a falls-prevention intervention among men and women aged ≥65 years under podiatric care. Participants were randomised into one of six groups: newsletter plus handwritten Post-it®; newsletter plus printed Post-it®; newsletter only; handwritten Post-it® only; printed Post-it® only; or no newsletter or Post-it®. The results were combined with those from previous embedded randomised controlled trials in meta-analyses. Results: The overall 12-month response rate was 803/826 (97.2%) (newsletter 95.1%, no newsletter 99.3%, printed Post-it® 97.5%, handwritten Post-it® 97.1%, no Post-it® 97.1%). The study update newsletter had a detrimental effect on response rates (adjusted odds ratio 0.14, 95% CI 0.04 to 0.48, p<0.01) and time to return the questionnaire (adjusted hazard ratio 0.86, 95% CI 0.75 to 0.99, p=0.04). No other statistically significant differences were observed between the intervention groups on response rates, time to response, and the need for a reminder. Conclusions: Post-it® notes have been shown to be ineffective in three embedded trials, whereas the evidence for newsletter reminders is still uncertain.

Keywords: Randomised controlled trial; randomisation; embedded trial; newsletter; Post-it® note; response rate.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

No competing interests were disclosed.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Flow diagram for the REFORM sub-study.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.. Kaplan-Meier survival curve of time to return for the newsletter intervention.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.. Kaplan-Meier survival curve of time to return for the Post-it® note intervention.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.. Meta-analyses of Post-it® note interventions.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.. Meta-analysis of newsletters sent prior to questionnaires.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. McColl E, Jacoby A, Thomas L, et al. : Design and use of questionnaires: a review of best practice applicable to surveys of health service staff and patients. Health Technol Assess. 2001;5(31):1–256. 10.3310/hta5310 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Hewitt CE, Kumaravel B, Dumville JC, et al. : Assessing the impact of attrition in randomized controlled trials. J Clin Epidemiol. 2010;63(11):1264–70. 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2010.01.010 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Brueton VC, Tierney J, Stenning S, et al. : Strategies to improve retention in randomised trials. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2013; (12): MR000032,1–126. 10.1002/14651858.MR000032.pub2 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Edwards PJ, Roberts I, Clarke MJ, et al. : Methods to increase response to postal and electronic questionnaires. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2009; (3):MR000008. 10.1002/14651858.MR000008.pub4 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Mitchell N, Hewitt CE, Lenaghan E, et al. : Prior notification of trial participants by newsletter increased response rates: a randomized controlled trial. J Clin Epidemiol. 2012;65(12):1348–52. 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2012.05.008 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types