Who responds? An examination of response rates to a national postal survey of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults, 2018-2019.
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Date
2021-07-13
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Affiliation(s)
(Wright, Thurber, Du, Banks, Walker, Irwin, Lovett) National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Research School of Population Health, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
(Yap, Sanders) Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, College of Arts and Social Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
(Yap, Sanders) Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, College of Arts and Social Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
Year
2020
Citation
BMC Medical Research Methodology. Vol.20(1), 2020, pp. 149.
Journal
BMC Medical Research Methodology
Conference name
Conference location
Grant information
No: 1344 Organisation: Lowitja Institute
The Mayi Kuwayu Study development and preliminary postal distribution was supported by the Lowitja Institute (ref: 1344).
The Mayi Kuwayu Study development and preliminary postal distribution was supported by the Lowitja Institute (ref: 1344).
Abstract
Background: Evidence on the effectiveness of postal recruitment methods for Indigenous peoples is lacking. Mayi Kuwayu, the National Study of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Wellbeing, uses multi-staged sampling. We aimed to test postal surveys as a primary recruitment method, analysing preliminary response rate data to inform the Study's ongoing sampling approach. Methods: Twenty thousand adults aged >=16years were sampled from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people enrolled in the Medicare Australia Enrolment Database. We calculated response rates at 4 and 15 weeks, overall and by age group, gender, state/territory and remoteness. Results: The overall response rate was 2.3% (n=456/20000). Highest response rates were observed among males and females >=50years from major cities (6.0, 95%CI 4.4-7.9 and 5.5%, 4.1-7.2, respectively) and regional areas (6.0%, 4.6-7.6 and 6.2%, 4.9-7.7, respectively). Younger age groups and remote areas had lower response rates; all remote age groups <50years had a response rate<=0.6%. While most participants responded on the paper surveys, online responses were more common among younger age groups and, respondents with higher education levels and whose first language was not English. Conclusions: Using a postal survey, we observed response rates of >=5.5% among older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults in major cities and regional areas; response rates were lower in other groups. A two-stage postal distribution approach provided an opportunity to adapt sampling approaches to different demographic groups. Based on initial response rates, the sampling strategy was revised to send postal surveys to groups with higher response rates groups and focus field recruitment strategies on low response groups.
PubMed ID
32522151 [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=32522151]
Type
Article
Study type
Observational study (cohort, case-control, cross sectional, or survey)
Subjects
Research practice