A Beginners Guide toPostal Questionnaires

A postal questionnaire is just a questionnaire which is

sent to respondents, completed by them

and returned…. through the post.

This means that the researcher is not present as the questionnaire is being

answered by the respondent.

The postal questionnairehas the same advantages and disadvantages

of questionnaires…….

Can you remember them?

….plus a few more which arise because of the way it is delivered –

through the post.

and it’s not just that letters can get lost…….

So,

Why use a postal questionnaire?

Postal questionnaires are a good method to use if researchers need to contact a group

(a population) which is spread across a large area

…or people who may want to remain anonymous in orderto give information about

a sensitive subject

Because of these advantages, postal questionnaires are used a lot in medical research….

British Medical Journal

BMJ 2002; 324 : 1183 doi: 10.1136/bmj.324.7347.1183 (Published 18 May 2002) PaperIncreasing response rates to postal questionnaires: systematic review

Phil Edwards, senior research fellow phil.edwards@lshtm.ac.uk)a, Ian Roberts, professor of epidemiology and public healtha, Mike Clarke, associate director (research)c, Carolyn DiGuiseppi, associate professor of preventive medicine and biometricsd, Sarah Pratap, research fellowb, Reinhard Wentz, information specialistb, Irene Kwan, research fellowb

Researchers write papers like this…..

J Epidemiol Community Health 2000;54:940–941

What are the characteristics of general practitioners who routinely do not return postalquestionnaires: a cross sectional study

Nigel Stocks, David Gunnell

…or like this

Author: GRAHAM Candida R.; BANERJEE Sube; GILL Randeep S.; Title: Using postal questionnaires to identify carer depression prior to initial patient contact. Reference: Psychiatric Bulletin, 33(5), May 2009, pp.169-171.

or like this…….

…and all sorts of organisations – businesses, government departments, councils, public

services like schools, the police, the fire brigade – all of these may find postal questionnaires a useful

way of gathering data.

What’s so good about postal questionnaires?

Postal Questionnaires:

• are relatively cheap and quick

• avoid interviewer bias

• can be good to use when investigating sensitive issues – respondents don’t feel embarrassed

…and

• respondents can reply anonymously

• PQs provide results which can be easily quantified and tabulated

• PQs are high in reliability

…on the other hand the perfect research method has not yet been invented

Disadvantages

• PQs usually have poor response rates

• the results can be biased – due to selective response-those who respond are untypical

• as no researcher is present to explain the questions or prompt, no clarification is possible

and one final disadvantage….

PQs – as we saw above have many of the same problems as questionnaires -as a positivist method, they lack validity

But researchers sometimes try to fix these problems – especially the problem

of low-response rates

Researchers concerned about low response rate can take Several steps to boost response

• Keep the questionnaire brief

• Make the design attractive and easy to follow

• Provide a pre-paid envelope for easy reply

• Send out reminders

• Include a polite letter at the start

• Stress the anonymity of the responses

• Pay respondents or offer a cash prize (lottery)

But these solutions do not always work.

Payment is a particularly tricky issue:

Research in the BMJ in 2002 has claimed that payment can lead to doubling of response rate

Roberts et al in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 2000, also found payment helps

However ethics committees – in medical settings and universities are often disapproving of offering financial incentives to respondents

It is seen as pressurising respondents

Conclusions

• Researchers have to be pragmatic

• PQs have their uses

• Like many methods they can perhaps be best used as part of a multi-method strategy = triangulation