Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To compare e-mail with regular mail for conducting surveys of physicians. DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial. SETTING: Ontario, Canada. PARTICIPANTS: A random sample of physicians listed in the College of Family Physicians of Canada's membership database. INTERVENTIONS: Survey delivered by e-mail and by post. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Response rates and times, and completeness and characteristics of responses to the survey. RESULTS: Overall response rate was 44.7% (33.6% of e-mail recipients, 52.7% of post recipients who have e-mail, and 47.8% of post recipients without e-mail). While the e-mail rate was significantly lower than for both post groups, e-mail responses were received much faster. There was no significant difference among groups as to completeness of responses, but e-mail responses had more frequent and longer comments. CONCLUSION: E-mail provides faster but fewer responses to surveys. Content of structured-response questions was similar in all groups, but e-mail provided more and longer responses to open-ended questions. Where a quick response to a survey is required, e-mail is superior.
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Selected References
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