Document Detail


The effect of item screeners on the quality of patient survey data: a randomized experiment of ambulatory care experience measures.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  22273089     Owner:  NLM     Status:  In-Data-Review    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
BACKGROUND: The use of item screeners is viewed as an essential feature of quality survey design because only respondents who are 'qualified' to answer questions that apply to a subset of the sample are directed to answer. However, empirical evidence supporting this view is scant.
OBJECTIVE: This study compares data quality resulting from the administration of ambulatory care experience measures that use item screeners versus tailored 'not applicable' options in response scales.
METHODS: Patients from the practices of 367 primary care physicians in 65 medical groups were randomly assigned to receive one of two versions of a well validated ambulatory care experience survey. Respondents (n = 2240) represent random samples of active established patients from participating physicians' panels.The 'screener' survey version included item screeners for five test items and the 'no screener' version included tailored 'not applicable' options in response scales instead of using screeners.The main outcomes measures were data quality resulting from the two item versions, including the mean item scores, the level of missing values, outgoing patient sample sizes needed to achieve adequate medical group-level reliability, and the relative ranking of medical groups.
RESULTS: Mean survey item scores generally did not differ by version. There were consistently fewer respondents to the 'screener' versions than 'no screener' versions. However, because the 'screener' versions improved measurement precision, smaller outgoing patient samples were needed to achieve adequate medical group-level reliability for four of the five items than for the 'no screener' version. The relative ranking of medical groups did not differ by item version.
CONCLUSION: Screeners appear to reduce noise by ensuring that respondents who are not 'qualified' to answer a question are screened out instead of providing unreliable responses. The increased precision resulting from 'screener' versions appears to more than offset the higher item non-response rates compared with 'no screener' versions.
Authors:
Hector P Rodriguez; Ted von Glahn; Angela Li; William H Rogers; Dana Gelb Safran
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article    
Journal Detail:
Title:  The patient     Volume:  2     ISSN:  1178-1653     ISO Abbreviation:  Patient     Publication Date:  2009 Jun 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2012-01-25     Completed Date:  -     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  101309314     Medline TA:  Patient     Country:  England    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  135-41     Citation Subset:  -    
Affiliation:
1 Department of Health Services, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA 2 Pacific Business Group on Health, San Francisco, California, USA 3 Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Boston, Massachusetts, USA 4 Institute for Clinical Research and Health Policy Studies, Tufts Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
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