JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Participation and completion rates are often low in questionnaire-based surveys where participants are recruited by post, e-mail, or telephone.

Objective:

We aimed to compute participation and completion rates for paper or mixed-mode questionnaires, with patients recruited in primary care physicians' waiting rooms by research assistants who were available to answer their questions if necessary.

Methods:

In this randomized study conducted in 2023 in France, five research assistants recruited 974 consecutive patients from 39 practices. Participants were randomized into four groups using simple randomization: ‘paper with incentive’ (n=251), ‘paper without incentive’ (n=368), ‘mixed mode with tablet’ (n=187), and ‘mixed mode with QR code’ (n=168). We computed the participation and completion rates and the median number of questions answered. We used univariable/multivariable logistic and negative binomial regressions to compare the four groups.

Results:

822 patients (women=65.3%, median age=52) agreed to participate (participation rate=84.4%). Participation rates were not statistically different between the groups (p-value=0.23). Overall, 806 patients (98.1%) answered all 48 questions. The differences between the groups were small but statistically significant in univariable and multivariable analyses (median number of questions answered=48 for all groups; completion rate=99.8% for paper, 96.8% for paper/tablet, and 93.3% for paper/QR code, p-values=0.01).

Conclusions:

Recruiting patients in waiting rooms with the help of research assistants resulted in participation and completion rates of over 80% and 90%, respectively, in all groups. In terms of feasibility, the use of mixed-mode options, including QR codes, to offer participants the opportunity to choose, might be a relevant strategy. Clinical Trial: N/A