 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
M. Elizabeth Fore, MEd, Deborah Parra-Medina, PhD, and Kerry McLoughlin, MS. Norman J. Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, 800 Sumter Street, Columbia, SC 29208, 803-777-7638, efore@sc.edu
Youth programs provide opportunities for changing the lives of their participants, yet identifying programs is a challenge. Within the state of South Carolina there are hundreds of youth programs, but no statewide database of youth programs is available. Because the development of a statewide database of youth programs requires extensive contacts, the use of a survey in the form of an e-mail attachment was investigated as a possible option to reduce the cost of duplication and postage and to increase response speed. Two hundred community contacts representing key leaders from community organizations, schools, government agencies, and churches were randomly selected for the study. They were then randomly assigned to two groups to receive all correspondence via either e-mail or mail. Each subject received an initial contact alerting him/her to the survey, the survey and cover letter, and a follow-up thanking the respondent for participating. Although e-mailed surveys were returned more quickly than the paper versions, 18.1 days (s.d.=17.6) for e-mailed surveys, compared to 26.6 (s.d.=25.4) for mailed surveys, mailed surveys had a higher response rate of 28% compared to an e-mail response rate of only 12%. Issues limiting the number of surveys received by e-mail include inconsistent use of e-mail accounts, the fear of computer viruses, incompatible e-mail or word processing programs, and difficulty in returning the completed survey via e-mail.
Learning Objectives:
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.