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 [email protected])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