Pre-Survey Text Messages (SMS) Improve Participation Rate in an Australian Mobile Telephone Survey: An Experimental Study

Grande, Eleonora Dal; Chittleborough, Catherine R.; Campostrini, Stefano; Dollard, Maureen F.; Taylor, Anne

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0150231

Cited by 32 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…[ 6 , 24 ] In particular, women are substantially less likely than men to own a mobile phone globally and in Africa,[ 25 ] and women may find that responding to mobile phone surveys is especially inconvenient given demands associated with caring for children and household management. Research is needed to test methods for better engaging women and rural residents in mobile phone surveys, such as using incentives, calling at certain times, survey pre-notification,[ 26 , 27 ] or more motivational call greetings.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Survey research with a random digit dial national mobile phone sample in Ghana: Methods and sample quality

et al. 2018

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IntroductionGenerating a nationally representative sample in low and middle income countries typically requires resource-intensive household level sampling with door-to-door data collection. High mobile phone penetration rates in developing countries provide new opportunities for alternative sampling and data collection methods, but there is limited information about response rates and sample biases in coverage and nonresponse using these methods. We utilized data from an interactive voice response, random-digit dial, national mobile phone survey in Ghana to calculate standardized response rates and assess representativeness of the obtained sample.Materials and methodsThe survey methodology was piloted in two rounds of data collection. The final survey included 18 demographic, media exposure, and health behavior questions. Call outcomes and response rates were calculated according to the American Association of Public Opinion Research guidelines. Sample characteristics, productivity, and costs per interview were calculated. Representativeness was assessed by comparing data to the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey and the National Population and Housing Census.ResultsThe survey was fielded during a 27-day period in February-March 2017. There were 9,469 completed interviews and 3,547 partial interviews. Response, cooperation, refusal, and contact rates were 31%, 81%, 7%, and 39% respectively. Twenty-three calls were dialed to produce an eligible contact: nonresponse was substantial due to the automated calling system and dialing of many unassigned or non-working numbers. Younger, urban, better educated, and male respondents were overrepresented in the sample.ConclusionsThe innovative mobile phone data collection methodology yielded a large sample in a relatively short period. Response rates were comparable to other surveys, although substantial coverage bias resulted from fewer women, rural, and older residents completing the mobile phone survey in comparison to household surveys. Random digit dialing of mobile phones offers promise for future data collection in Ghana and may be suitable for other developing countries.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Survey research with a random digit dial national mobile phone sample in Ghana: Methods and sample quality

et al. 2018

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“…This led to a lower response rate for the cell phone samples compared with the landline samples (around 4 percent less). The lower response rate, which might have resulted from using the same call-back procedures as for the landline sample, could be improved with proven callback strategies: Ensuring that interviewers’ phone numbers show up as “Asthma Call-back Survey” in caller identification.Increasing the required minimum number of attempted calls.Sending a short notification text message before calling.Setting up a call-back time for the follow-up call (Dal Grande 2016; Vicente 2017). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison response patterns on landline and cell phone in a call back survey: effects of demographic characteristics and lag days

Qin

Bailey

Zahran

2019

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“…In recent years, two-way text messages in the form of text message questionnaires (or surveys) have been used to obtain real-time data in health research settings [ 3 , 5 , 7 , 13 - 15 ]. Text messaging as an assessment tool has been valued given that it can be easily integrated into the lives of study participants, who often carry cell phones throughout the day, without being intrusive or requiring additional travel or study visitation time [ 16 ]. For researchers, data collection has a rapid turnaround time, is scalable to large groups, and is relatively inexpensive [ 3 , 4 , 16 , 17 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Text messaging as an assessment tool has been valued given that it can be easily integrated into the lives of study participants, who often carry cell phones throughout the day, without being intrusive or requiring additional travel or study visitation time [ 16 ]. For researchers, data collection has a rapid turnaround time, is scalable to large groups, and is relatively inexpensive [ 3 , 4 , 16 , 17 ]. Participants may also be more responsive to the convenience of text messaging [ 16 ], and there is an additional benefit of anonymity when reporting sensitive behaviors, such as sexual activity, drug use, or housing instability [ 2 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For researchers, data collection has a rapid turnaround time, is scalable to large groups, and is relatively inexpensive [ 3 , 4 , 16 , 17 ]. Participants may also be more responsive to the convenience of text messaging [ 16 ], and there is an additional benefit of anonymity when reporting sensitive behaviors, such as sexual activity, drug use, or housing instability [ 2 ]. In fact, one study found that text message responses from participants were more candid than responses from voice interviews [ 18 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Feasibility of Assessing Economic and Sexual Risk Behaviors Using Text Message Surveys in African-American Young Adults Experiencing Homelessness and Unemployment: Single-Group Study

Mayo-Wilson¹,

Glass²,

Labrique³

et al. 2020

JMIR Form Res

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Background Text messages offer the potential to better evaluate HIV behavioral interventions using repeated longitudinal measures at a lower cost and research burden. However, they have been underused in US minority settings. Objective This study aims to examine the feasibility of assessing economic and sexual risk behaviors using text message surveys. Methods We conducted a single-group study with 17 African-American young adults, aged 18-24 years, who were economically disadvantaged and reported prior unprotected sex. Participants received a text message survey once each week for 5 weeks. The survey contained 14 questions with yes-no and numeric responses on sexual risk behaviors (ie, condomless sex, sex while high or drunk, and sex exchange) and economic behaviors (ie, income, employment, and money spent on HIV services or products). Feasibility measures were the number of participants who responded to the survey in a given week, the number of questions to which a participant responded in each survey, and the number of hours spent from sending a survey to participants to receiving their response in a given week. One discussion group was used to obtain feedback. Results Overall, 65% (n=11/17) of the participants responded to at least one text message survey compared with 35% (n=6/17) of the participants who did not respond. The majority (n=7/11, 64%) of the responders were women. The majority (n=4/6, 67%) of nonresponders were men. An average of 7.6 participants (69%) responded in a given week. Response rates among ever responders ranged from 64% to 82% across the study period. The mean number of questions answered each week was 12.6 (SD 2.7; 90% of all questions), ranging from 72% to 100%. An average of 6.4 participants (84%) answered all 14 text message questions in a given week, ranging from 57% to 100%. Participants responded approximately 8.7 hours (SD 10.3) after receiving the survey. Participants were more likely to answer questions related to employment, condomless sex, and discussions with sex partners. Nonresponse or skip was more often used for questions at the end of the survey relating to sex exchange and money spent on HIV prevention services or products. Strengths of the text message survey were convenience, readability, short completion time, having repeated measures over time, and having incentives. Conclusions Longitudinal text message surveys may be a valuable tool for assessing HIV-related economic and sexual risk behaviors. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03237871; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03237871

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Pre-Survey Text Messages (SMS) Improve Participation Rate in an Australian Mobile Telephone Survey: An Experimental Study

Cited by 32 publications

References 17 publications

Survey research with a random digit dial national mobile phone sample in Ghana: Methods and sample quality

Survey research with a random digit dial national mobile phone sample in Ghana: Methods and sample quality

Comparison response patterns on landline and cell phone in a call back survey: effects of demographic characteristics and lag days

Feasibility of Assessing Economic and Sexual Risk Behaviors Using Text Message Surveys in African-American Young Adults Experiencing Homelessness and Unemployment: Single-Group Study

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