A randomised controlled trial of postal versus interviewer administration of a questionnaire measuring satisfaction with, and use of, services received in the year before death
A randomised controlled trial of postal versus interviewer administration of a questionnaire measuring satisfaction with, and use of, services received in the year before death
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DOI：
10.1136/jech.52.12.802
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发表时间：
1998-12-01
影响因子：
6.3
通讯作者：
McCarthy, M
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Addington-Hall, J;Walker, L;McCarthy, M
研究目的-制定一种简短的访谈程序，在以往的全国临终关怀调查中成功使用，并调查邮寄方式对答复率、回答偏差和对问题回答性质的影响。设计-随机对照试验。设置-伦敦内部卫生当局。参与者-1995年6月至1996年7月癌症死亡随机抽样的告密者(死亡登记人员)。主要结果-简化问卷(Voice)有158个问题。邮寄和面谈的回复率没有显著差异(面谈：56%(123人中69人)，邮寄：52%(308人中161人))。两组的应答者在社会人口学特征方面没有区别。邮寄调查问卷遗漏的数据要多得多，特别是关于服务提供和服务满意度的问题。在158个问题中，有11个问题的回答在两组之间存在差异。访谈组受访者更倾向于对服务满意度和症状控制方面的问题给出排名靠前的回答。结论-邮寄调查问卷是一种可以接受的替代访谈的方法，至少在响应率和反应偏差方面是可以接受的。然而，访谈调查费用的增加需要与邮寄调查问卷导致更多数据缺失以及对一些问题的答案可能不太可靠的事实相平衡。在结合两种数据收集方法的结果时需要谨慎，因为受访者对一些问题给出了更积极的回答。
Study objectives-To develop a short form of an interview schedule used successfully in previous national surveys of care for the dying, and to investigate the effect of administering it by post on response rate, response bias and on the nature of responses to questions.Design-Randomised controlled trial.Setting-An inner London health authority.Participants-Informants (person registering death) of random sample of cancer deaths between June 1995 and July 1996.Main results-The shortened questionnaire (VOICES) has 158 questions. Response rate did not differ significantly between postal and interview groups (interview: 56% (69 of 123), postal: 52% (161 of 308)). Responders in the two groups did not differ in terms of their sociodemographic characteristics. Postal questionnaires had significantly more missing data, particularly on questions about service provision and satisfaction with services. Responses to questions differed between the groups on 11 of 158 questions. Interview group respondents were more likely to give top ranking responses to questions on service satisfaction and symptom control.Conclusions-Postal questionnaires are an acceptable alternative to interviews in retrospective post-bereavement surveys of care for the dying, at least in terms of response rate and response bias. However, the increased costs of interview surveys need to be balanced against the fact that postal questionnaires result in more missing data, and possibly less reliable answers to some questions. Caution is needed in combining results from the two data collection methods as interview respondents gave more positive answers to some questions.