Table 1 Recruitment strategies for Study 1 mail-out pilot and Study 2 of three enhanced mail-out strategies
From: Maximising follow-up participation rates in a large scale 45 and Up Study in Australia
| Study and intervention arm of study | Date mailed out | Cost per unit received ($AU) | Responses 30 days after questionnaire mail-out | Overall RR (%) and 95 % CI | Gender | AGE | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Males | Females | Aged 45–64 years | Aged 65+ years | |||||||||
| Responded | RR | Responded | RR | Responded | RR | Responded | RR | |||||
| Study 1 pilot | ||||||||||||
| 5000 Questionnaire | Questionnaire (Q) sent 24 March 2010 | $4.19 | 2084 |
41.7 %* [40.3–43.5] | 961 |
41.2 % [39.2–43.2] | 1123 |
42.1 % [40.2–43.9] | 1233 |
42.6 % [40.8–44.4] | 851 |
40.4 % [38.3–42.5] |
| Study 2 enhanced mail-out | ||||||||||||
|
Strategy A
1000 Postcard + Questionnaire | Postcard 30 June 2010 + Q 7 July 2010 | $3.13 | 505 |
50.5 %** [47.4–53.5] | 229 |
48.8 % [44.3–53.3] | 276 |
52.0 % [47.7–56.2] | 315 |
52.2 [48.2–56.2] | 190 |
48.0 % [43.1–52.9] |
|
Strategy B
1000 Questionnaire + Reminder | Q 7 July 2010 + Reminder 21 July 2010 | $3.20 | 541 |
54.1 % [51.0–57.2] | 278 |
52.4 % [48.1–56.6] | 263 |
56.1 % [51.6–60.5] | 330 |
55.6 % [51.6–59.6] | 211 |
51.8 % [47.0–56.7] |
|
Strategy C
1000 Postcard + Questionnaire + Reminder | Postcard 30 June 2010 + Q 7 July 2010 + Reminder 21 July 2010 | $3.78 | 564 |
56.4 % [53.3–59.4] | 242 |
60.0 % [55.2–64.7] | 322 |
53.9 % [49.9–57.9] | 350 |
57.7 % [53.7–61.5] | 214 |
54.5 % [49.5–59.3] |