Non-response bias in a web-based health behaviour survey of New Zealand tertiary students

Kypri, Kypros; Samaranayaka, Ari; Connor, Jennie; Langley, John Desmond; Maclennan, Brett

doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2011.07.017

Cited by 67 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 16 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Moreover, even though data were kept separate from e-mail addresses and passwords, our requirement that students enter their e-mail address to enroll may have limited their participation. However, it should be noted that the percent of students who participated in the study is consistent with other college campus-wide surveys and established national surveys of alcohol and drug use (see Cunningham et al, 2012; Kypri, Samaranayaka, Connor, Langley, & Maclennan, 2011; Laguilles, Williams, & Saunders, 2011). However, university administrators who wished to utilize this approach as a primary strategy for addressing hazardous drinking among first-year students would likely require much higher participation rates.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

Personalized Feedback as a Universal Prevention Approach for College Drinking: A Randomized Trial of an e-Mail Linked Universal Web-Based Alcohol Intervention

Palfai

Winter

et al. 2014

J Primary Prevent

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Alcohol use among first-year university students continues to be a central health concern. Efforts to address drinking in this population have increasingly relied on web-based interventions, which have the capacity to reach large numbers of students through a convenient and highly utilized medium. Despite evidence for the utility of this approach for reducing hazardous drinking, recent studies that have examined the effectiveness of this approach as a universal prevention strategy in campus-wide studies have produced mixed results. We sought to test the effectiveness of a web-based alcohol intervention as a universal prevention strategy for first-year students. An e-mail invitation linked to a brief, web-based survey on health behaviors was sent to all first-year students during the fall semester. Those who completed the baseline assessment were randomized to receive either a feedback-based alcohol intervention (intervention condition) or feedback about other health-related behaviors such as sleep and nutrition (control condition). A second web-based survey was used to collect follow-up drinking data 5 months later. The number of heavy drinking episodes in the previous month and alcohol-related consequences in the previous 3 months served as the primary dependent variables. Negative binomial regression analyses did not indicate a significant effect of the intervention at follow-up on either heavy drinking episodes or alcohol-related consequences. Analyses of additional drinking outcomes among the subsample of students who reported that they did not drink at baseline showed that those who received the alcohol intervention were subsequently less likely to drink alcohol. These results suggest that web-based alcohol interventions may be a potentially useful method of maintaining abstinence among underage, non-drinking students. Overall, however, results indicate that an e-mail-linked, campus-wide, web-intervention approach to address alcohol use among first-year students may have limited effectiveness as an approach to minimize hazardous drinking over the course of the year.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

Personalized Feedback as a Universal Prevention Approach for College Drinking: A Randomized Trial of an e-Mail Linked Universal Web-Based Alcohol Intervention

Palfai

Winter

et al. 2014

J Primary Prevent

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Our findings showed that the responders were less likely to engage in risk behaviours such as not using conspicuity aids and listening to music while riding. This is consistent with previous research, although unrelated to cycling, showing that lifestyle risk factors, such as smoking,9 16 17 38 39 alcohol abuse,12 40 physical inactivity16 40 41 and poor diet,40 are more common in non-responders or late responders.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Estimating bias from loss to follow-up in a prospective cohort study of bicycle crash injuries

2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundLoss to follow-up, if related to exposures, confounders and outcomes of interest, may bias association estimates. We estimated the magnitude and direction of such bias in a prospective cohort study of crash injury among cyclists.MethodsThe Taupo Bicycle Study involved 2590 adult cyclists recruited from New Zealand's largest cycling event in 2006 and followed over a median period of 4.6 years through linkage to four administrative databases. We resurveyed the participants in 2009 and excluded three participants who died prior to the resurvey. We compared baseline characteristics and crash outcomes of the baseline (2006) and follow-up (those who responded in 2009) cohorts by ratios of relative frequencies and estimated potential bias from loss to follow-up on seven exposure-outcome associations of interest by ratios of HRs.ResultsOf the 2587 cyclists in the baseline cohort, 1526 (60%) responded to the follow-up survey. The responders were older, more educated and more socioeconomically advantaged. They were more experienced cyclists who often rode in a bunch, off-road or in the dark, but were less likely to engage in other risky cycling behaviours. Additionally, they experienced bicycle crashes more frequently during follow-up. The selection bias ranged between −10% and +9% for selected associations.ConclusionsLoss to follow-up was differential by demographic, cycling and behavioural risk characteristics as well as crash outcomes, but did not substantially bias association estimates of primary research interest.

show abstract

“…However, the outcomes of responders and nonresponders were not significantly different in that study [26]. The outcomes of a study that relies on mailed surveys might be underestimated or overestimated as a result of nonresponders [15,18,31].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 76%

Factors Associated With Survey Response in Hand Surgery Research

Bot

Anderson

Neuhaus

et al. 2013

Clinical Orthopaedics &Amp; Related Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background A low response rate is believed to decrease the validity of survey studies. Factors associated with nonresponse to surveys are poorly characterized in orthopaedic research. Questions/purposes This study addressed whether (1) psychologic factors; (2) demographics; (3) illness-related factors; and (4) pain are predictors of a lower likelihood of a patient returning a mailed survey. Methods One hundred four adult, new or return patients completed questionnaires including the Pain Catastrophizing Scale, Patient Health Questionnaire-9 depression scale, Short Health Anxiety Index, demographics, and a pain scale (0-10) during a routine visit to a hand and upper extremity surgeon. Of these patients, 38% had undergone surgery and the remainder was seen for various other conditions. Six months after their visit, patients were mailed the DASH questionnaire and a scale to rate their satisfaction with the visit (0-10). Bivariate analysis and logistic regression were used to determine risk factors for being a nonresponder to the followup of this study. The cohort consisted of 57 women and 47 men with a mean age of 51 years with various diagnoses. Thirty-five patients (34%) returned the questionnaire. Responders were satisfied with their visit (mean satisfaction, 8.7) and had a DASH score of 9.6.

show abstract

Non-response bias in a web-based health behaviour survey of New Zealand tertiary students

Abstract: Respondents whose participation was hardest to elicit reported more risk behaviour. Assuming non-respondents' behaviour is similar or more extreme than that of late respondents, prevalence will have been substantially underestimated.

Cited by 67 publications

References 16 publications

Personalized Feedback as a Universal Prevention Approach for College Drinking: A Randomized Trial of an e-Mail Linked Universal Web-Based Alcohol Intervention

Personalized Feedback as a Universal Prevention Approach for College Drinking: A Randomized Trial of an e-Mail Linked Universal Web-Based Alcohol Intervention

Estimating bias from loss to follow-up in a prospective cohort study of bicycle crash injuries

Factors Associated With Survey Response in Hand Surgery Research

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About