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. 2019 Dec 12;19:238. doi: 10.1186/s12874-019-0882-x

Table 1.

Number of responses and its corresponding response rate obtained at each data collection phase (i.e. after the first time participants were contacted, after participants received at least one reminder letter and for the overall study)

Region Number of mailed letters a Number of mailed reminders a Overall responses Responses after first contact Responses after reminder p-value e
Number of respondents Response rate (%) b Number of respondents Response rate (%) c Number of respondents Response rate (%) d
Anholt 79 59 22 27.8 20 25.3 2 3.4 < 0.001
Keldsnor 165 134 61 37.0 31 18.8 30 22.4
Lindet 645 526 201 31.2 119 18.4 82 15.6
Sundeved 2215 1736 782 35.3 479 21.6 303 17.5
Total 3104 2455 1066 f 34.3 649 20.9 417 17.0

a Respondents estimated to be ineligible (i.e. returned letters due to invalid address and refusals due to e.g. the fact that the house is not used on a daily basis (i.e. vacation house) and rare cases of mental sickness informed by a health care assistant) are excluded from this number. In total, 75 households were considered ineligible

b Response rate was calculated by dividing the total number of respondents by the number of mailed letters

c Response rate was calculated by dividing the number of respondents after the first contact by the number of mailed letters

d Response rate was calculated by dividing the number of respondents after a reminder letter by the number of mailed reminders

e Pearson’s Chi-squared test of proportions was used to calculate the difference between the response rates for the two contact points

f Besides these surveys, 13 other responses were received without the identification code and two individuals have answered both the mail and the Web version of the questionnaire. These were not considered in this study and therefore, are not considered in this analysis