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document
Survey response inducements for registered nurses . The past 20 years have seen an overall decline in survey response rates and an even more pronounced decline in samples of health care professionals . The authors tested the use of a " thank you " or " reminder " postcard as a method by which to stem the tide of declining response rates . The authors conducted a mail and telephone survey of 49,605 registered nurses for the 2000 National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses and sent an extra mailing to a random subsample ( n = 4,968 ) . They then compared response rates for both groups . Contrary to prior research , this study found that reminder postcards did not improve response rates or rates of return . There may be several reasons for this finding , including the general familiarity with , and high saliency of , this research project for the nursing community . These results suggest that even widely accepted best practices for survey methods deserve scrutiny when applied to special subpopulations .
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Intervention_Educational
Survey
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Intervention_Other
" thank you " or " reminder " postcard
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Intervention_Other
mail and telephone survey
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Outcome_Other
response
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Outcome_Other
response rates or rates of return .
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Participant_Condition
registered nurses .