Institute for Medical Epidemiology, Biometrics and Informatics, Interdisciplinary Centre for Health Sciences, Medical Faculty of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.
Institute for General Medicine, Interdisciplinary Centre for Health Sciences, Medical Faculty of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.
Int J Public Health. 2024 Mar 20;69:1606770. doi: 10.3389/ijph.2024.1606770. eCollection 2024.
To explore the role of reminders in recruiting and maintaining participation in an online panel. 50,045 individuals from five German federal states were invited by regular mail to participate in the online study "Health-Related Beliefs and Healthcare Experiences in Germany." Those who did not respond to the first attempt received a postal reminder. Comparisons of sociodemographic characteristics and responses were made between first-attempt respondents and those who enrolled after the second letter. After the initial letter, 2,216 (4.4%, 95%CI: 4.3%-4.6%) registered for the study; after a reminder 1,130 (2.5%, 2.3%-2.6% of those reminded) enrolled. Minor sociodemographic differences were observed between the groups and the content of the responses did not differ. Second-attempt respondents were less likely to participate in subsequent questionnaires: 67.3% of first-attempt vs. 43.3% of second-attempt respondents participated in their fourth survey. Recruitment costs were 79% higher for second-attempt respondents. While reminders increased the number of participants, lower cost-effectiveness and higher attrition of second-attempt respondents support the use of single invitation only for studies with a similar design to ours when the overall participation is low.
探讨提醒在招募和维持在线小组参与方面的作用。邀请了来自德国五个联邦州的 50045 人通过普通邮件参与在线研究“德国与健康相关的信念和医疗保健经验”。对于未回复第一封邮件的人，会收到一封邮寄提醒。对首次回复者和第二封信后注册者的社会人口统计学特征和回复进行了比较。初始邮件发出后，有 2216 人（4.4%，95%CI：4.3%-4.6%）注册参加研究；提醒后有 1130 人（提醒人中的 2.5%，2.3%-2.6%）注册。两组之间观察到一些细微的社会人口统计学差异，且回复内容没有差异。第二次尝试回复的人不太可能参与后续问卷：47.3%的首次尝试回复者和 43.3%的第二次尝试回复者参加了第四次调查。对于第二次尝试回复者的招募成本要高出 79%。虽然提醒增加了参与者的数量，但成本效益较低，且第二次尝试回复者的退出率较高，这支持对于总体参与率较低的类似设计的研究，仅使用单次邀请，而不使用提醒。
