Enhancing Response Rates in Physician Surveys: The Limited Utility of Electronic Options

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the utility of offering physicians electronic options as alternatives to completing mail questionnaires. DATA SOURCE: A survey of colorectal cancer screening practices of Alabama primary care physicians, conducted May-June 2010. STUDY DESIGN: In the follow-up to a mail questionnaire, physicians were offered options of completing surveys by telephone, fax, email, or online. DATA COLLECTION METHOD: Detailed records were kept on the timing and mode of completion of surveys. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Eighty-eight percent of surveys were returned by mail, 10 percent were returned by fax, and only 2 percent were completed online; none were completed by telephone or email. CONCLUSIONS: Offering fax options increases response rates, but providing other electronic options does not.