Heywood A, Mudge P, Ring I, Sanson-Fisher R
Epidemiology and Health Information Branch, Queensland Health, Brisbane, Australia.
Fam Pract. 1995 Jun;12(2):227-31. doi: 10.1093/fampra/12.2.227.
Reducing systematic bias in any group of study participants should be a priority of any researcher. This can be achieved by ensuring the sampling framework is adequate and by increasing response rates. Response rates in studies of general practitioners have to date tended to be low. Generalization of results to the wider population of GPs is therefore reduced. This paper systematically examines those factors which can reduce bias, recognising accurate identification of the target population, gaining good access to respondents, and maximising response rates as crucial factors. The importance of a medical peer in recruitment is examined. Applying these factors to a study situation, three different recruitment strategies were tested. As the strategy improved, there was an incremental improvement in the response rate (44%, 67%, 78%). These results indicate that by specifically addressing strategies which facilitate access to the target population, and increase the legitimacy and credibility of the study, significant improvements in response rates can be achieved.
减少任何一组研究参与者中的系统偏差应是每位研究人员的首要任务。这可以通过确保抽样框架足够完善以及提高回复率来实现。迄今为止，全科医生研究中的回复率往往较低。因此，将研究结果推广至更广泛的全科医生群体的可能性就降低了。本文系统地研究了那些能够减少偏差的因素，认识到准确识别目标人群、顺利接触受访者以及最大化回复率是关键因素。文中还探讨了医学同行在招募过程中的重要性。将这些因素应用于一项研究情境中，测试了三种不同的招募策略。随着策略的改进，回复率逐步提高（44%、67%、78%）。这些结果表明，通过专门针对有助于接触目标人群并提高研究的合理性和可信度的策略，回复率可以得到显著提高。
