Survey Methods to Optimize Response Rate in the National Dental Practice-Based Research Network
Open accessAbstract
Surveys of health professionals typically have low response rates, and these rates have been decreasing in the recent years. We report on the methods used in a successful survey of dentist members of the National Dental Practice–Based Research Network. The objectives were to quantify the (1) increase in response rate associated with successive survey methods, (2) time to completion with each successive step, (3) contribution from the final method and personal contact, and (4) differences in response rate and mode of response by practice/practitioner characteristics. Dentist members of the network were mailed an invitation describing the study. Subsequently, up to six recruitment steps were followed: initial e-mail, two e-mail reminders at 2-week intervals, a third e-mail reminder with postal mailing a paper questionnaire, a second postal mailing of paper questionnaire, and staff follow-up. Of the 1,876 invited, 160 were deemed ineligible and 1,488 (87% of 1,716 eligible) completed the survey. Completion by step: initial e-mail, 35%; second e-mail, 15%; third e-mail, 7%; fourth e-mail/first paper, 11%; second paper, 15%; and staff follow-up, 16%. Overall, 76% completed the survey online and 24% on paper. Completion rates increased in absolute numbers and proportionally with later methods of recruitment. Participation rates varied little by practice/practitioner characteristics. Completion on paper was more likely by older dentists. Multiple methods of recruitment resulted in a high participation rate: Each step and method produced incremental increases with the final step producing the largest increase.
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Recruiting practitioners is a persistent challenge for DPBRNs.
“It is clear that recruiting practitioners is a persistent challenge for DPBRNs. Without them, no research project can succeed [26,27].”
From Private Dental Practitioners' Experience in a Dental Practice-Based Research Network: A Qualitative Evaluation (2026) · cites this paper as [26]
The Abstract says surveys of health professionals typically have low and declining response rates, and describes efforts to recruit dental-network members to a survey. The Method and Discussion distinguish those survey participants from practitioners enrolling in the network; the paper does not establish that recruiting practitioners into DPBRNs is a persistent challenge. No page numbers are available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.78)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe low response rate is acknowledged.
“The low response rate is acknowledged; however, it is to be expected from an mailing-lists survey [61].”
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Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
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- Authors
- Funkhouser, E., Vellala, K., Baltuck, C., Cacciato, R., Durand, E., McEdward, D., Sowell, E., Theisen, S. E., Gilbert, G. H., & National Dental PBRN Collaborative Group
- Affiliations
- University of Alabama at Birmingham (US)
- Westat (United States) (US)
- University of Washington (US)
- University of Rochester (US)
- HealthPartners (US)
- University of Florida (US)
- The University of Texas at San Antonio Health Science Center (US)
- Venue
- Evaluation & the Health Professions
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2016-01-10
- Volume
- 40
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 332-358
- ISSN
- 0163-2787 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-3918
- PMC
- PMC5002250
- OpenAlex
- W2338005780
- Semantic Scholar
- 707ef53c4666c9f69a8d3c368cd088429821186d
- Cited by
- 82
- References
- 53
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 2
- FWCI
- 18.11
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- europepmc.org
- Locations
- Evaluation & the Health Professions (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- University of Alabama at Birmingham
- National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (U19DE022516)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Survey Methodology and Nonresponse
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Survey Sampling and Estimation Techniques
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Census and Population Estimation
- Keywords
- survey response rates, survey recruitment, email reminders, postal questionnaires, practice characteristics
- MeSH terms
- Dentists, Humans, Postal Service, Surveys and Questionnaires, Time Factors, Electronic Mail
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