Kristal A R, White E, Davis J R, Corycell G, Raghunathan T, Kinne S, Lin T K
Cancer Prevention, Research Program, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA 98104-2092.
Public Health Rep. 1993 May-Jun;108(3):372-9.
Public health researchers frequently rely on random-digit dialing (RDD) telephone surveys in monitoring trends in health behavior and evaluating health promotion interventions. RDD response rates have declined during the past decade, and cost-effective methods to increase response rates are needed. The authors evaluated two levels of enhanced calling efforts in an RDD survey of cancer-related health behavior in the State of Washington. The first level of enhanced calling effort was 1 month after 11 original calling attempts to a household, when the authors attempted up to 11 recalls. The second level was 6 months after the first answered call, when the authors recalled those persons who could not be interviewed. Enhanced calling efforts increased the overall survey response rate by 11 percent. Nine percentage points of the increase were attributable to call backs. There were demographic differences among the participants reached at different levels of calling effort, but no consistent associations of level of calling effort with health behavior related to alcohol use, smoking, diet, or health screening. Marginal costs for interviews completed with enhanced calling efforts were about 50 percent higher than costs for interviews reached in the first 11 calls. The authors concluded that enhanced calling efforts may be justified, because they increase confidence in the generalizability of survey results. However, the authors found very little change in survey results by including interviews from persons who were difficult to reach and to interview.
公共卫生研究人员在监测健康行为趋势和评估健康促进干预措施时，经常依赖随机数字拨号（RDD）电话调查。在过去十年中，RDD的回应率有所下降，因此需要采用具有成本效益的方法来提高回应率。作者在华盛顿州开展的一项关于癌症相关健康行为的RDD调查中，评估了两个层面的强化呼叫努力。第一个层面的强化呼叫努力是在对一个家庭进行11次初始呼叫尝试后的1个月，此时作者进行了多达11次回访。第二个层面是在首次接听电话后的6个月，此时作者回访了那些无法接受访谈的人。强化呼叫努力使总体调查回应率提高了11%。其中9个百分点的提高归因于回访。在不同呼叫努力水平下联系到的参与者存在人口统计学差异，但呼叫努力水平与与饮酒、吸烟、饮食或健康筛查相关的健康行为之间没有一致的关联。通过强化呼叫努力完成访谈的边际成本比前11次呼叫中完成访谈的成本高出约50%。作者得出结论，强化呼叫努力可能是合理的，因为它们增加了对调查结果可推广性的信心。然而，作者发现，纳入难以联系和访谈的人的访谈后，调查结果变化甚微。
