Article on “Surveying Clinicians by Web: Current Issues in Design and Administration” by UWSC staff featured in special issue of Evaluation & the Health Professions

The September issue of Evaluation & the Health Professions is devoted to articles focused on “Surveying Clinicians.” Among the articles featured is a paper by UWSC staff members Jennifer Dykema, Nathan Jones, Tara Piché and John Stevenson on “Surveying Clinicians by Web: Current Issues in Design and Administration.”

According to the abstract: “The versatility, speed, and reduced costs with which web surveys can be conducted with clinicians are often offset by low response rates. Drawing on best practices and general recommendations in the literature, we provide an evidence-based overview of methods for conducting online surveys with providers. We highlight important advantages and disadvantages of conducting provider surveys online and include a review of differences in response rates between web and mail surveys of clinicians. When administered online, design-based features affect rates of survey participation and data quality. We examine features likely to have an impact including sample frames, incentives, contacts (type, timing, and content), mixed-mode approaches, and questionnaire length. We make several recommendations regarding optimal web-based designs, but more empirical research is needed, particularly with regard to identifying which combinations of incentive and contact approaches yield the highest response rates and are the most cost-effective.”

University of Wisconsin employees can download the paper directly here. Others should contact the corresponding author, Jennifer Dykema (dykema@ssc.wisc.edu), for a PDF of the paper.

Click here for the September issue of Evaluation & the Health Professions