What are the best survey methods for the development and retention of participants in research studies?

Question

I'm trying to find the best method of conducting a survey for community members to be involved and informed about clinical research so that their responses can help future research and/or they will be inspired to pursue a health- related career.

Answer 1

There is not a simple answer to this question because more information is needed about this population.  I took a survey methodolgy class and choosing a method depends on many factors.  

For example, another person said internet surveys are best.  But how will you get community members to access the survey?  Do you have all of their email addresses to send them a link?  Is the internet appropriate for the type of questions you're asking?  Since internet is self administered, there won't be a researcher present if the participants have questions or are unsure how to respond.  

Depending on your situation, internet might be the best option but it might not be.  Or you might want to used mixed methods.  

I recommend that you check out a survey methods book and then make an educated decision.  Don Dillman is a trusted name in the field - I recommend him highly.

Answer 2

I worked on a research study where we used an online survey instrument and had tremendous success with it.  Now, I'm liberal arts so I don't know all the specifics of programming (we had a tech guy set it up for us), but the software was very user-friendly and once we set it up and harvested the emails we wanted to use, it sent them out in mass quantities.  We could log on and track changes; it even had options for creating graphs and other data organizers directly from the raw data.  Of course it could perform some statistical functions that were way over my head as well!  

Long story short: I think an online survey would go over very well.  It's convenient for participants and easy for you as the researcher to view results.

Hope this helps!