The use of refusal postcards in recruiting older adults.
The use of refusal postcards in recruiting older adults.
复制标题
在招募老年人时使用拒绝明信片。
DOI：
10.1007/bf02895670
复制
发表时间：
2000
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Mills,K
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Verboncoeur,CJ;Stewart,AL;King,AC;Rush,S;McLellan,BY;Mills,K
This article examines whether a refusal postcard makes recruitment more efficient or instead reduces response rates to a telephone survey of older adults. Medicare health maintenance organization (HMO) members were randomly sampled in sequential phases. All samples received an initial contact letter from a HMO geriatrician. A refusal postcard was included in the first sample (N= 178); however, the remaining six samples did not receive this postcard (N= 1,003). An overall refusal rate of 32% was observed when postcards were included versus a 14% rate of refusal when postcards were excluded (p< .001). When potential respondents were reached by telephone, refusal rates were similar (9% versus 10%). Despite the higher refusal rate among the sample receiving the refusal postcard, no significant differences in demographics, health, and health behaviors were observed between the two final sample groups completing the survey. We conclude that refusal postcards greatly increase the refusal rates without offering any prescreening advantage in the recruitment process of older adults and could increase the costs of recruitment for a telephone survey. Furthermore, use of a refusal postcard precludes individuals from making fully informed decisions about participating in research.
