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.