PHYSICIAN RESPONSE TO A MAILED SURVEY AN EXPERIMENT IN TIMING OF PAYMENT

This article reports the results of an experiment in obtainingphysician response to a mailed questionnaire. Each physicianwas eligible for a payment of $20. A randomly selected halfreceived the payment with their initial questionnaire and coverletter; half were told they would receive their payment afterthey completed and returned the questionnaire. The same mailand telephone followup procedures were used for both groups.Overall, prepayment had significant positive effects on responserates. This paper examines these effects in terms of responserates for various specialties, field efficiencies, cost, andrepresentativeness of the sample.