OBJECTIVE To assess the validity of the estimates obtained through telephone survey and to measure the impact of the post-stratification weighting factor to adjust estimates. METHODS The same questionnaire was completed by two independent samples of the population living in the municipality of Belo Horizonte city (Barreiro and West regions). One sample (n=440) completed the questionnaire of V...

We discuss how telephony software requirements should be structured to reduce maintenance costs. “Feature interaction” problems have become a serious obstacle to add more features to telephone switches. We show why existing public switched telephone networks are hard to modify. We then argue that a more modular, layered requirements architecture can help. Finally we survey approaches for such a...

Use of random-digit dialing (RDD) for conducting health surveys is increasingly problematic because of declining participation rates and eroding frame coverage. Alternative survey modes and sampling frames may improve response rates and increase the validity of survey estimates. In a 2005 pilot study conducted in six states as part of the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, the authors ...

Annexes Annex 1 List of Interview Partner (telephone/written survey and/or face-to-face)

The internet is increasingly being used for cross-sectional surveys and online panels . Although internet accessibility is growing across developed and developing countries, it seems unlikely that the internet alone will ever provide complete coverage of the general population . Given the incomplete coverage and imbalanced penetration rate of the internet across segments of the population, it i...

This paper considers an investigation of the users’ opinion of the web site ODIN, which is the official web site for information from the Norwegian Government and Ministries. A survey were performed by asking people who log on to the ODIN web site to fill out questionnaires on their use of the web site. This could be a potentially very useful way to collect information about the users’ needs, s...

BACKGROUND Numerous studies have examined the impact of global budget payment systems of health insurance on patient access to medical care. In order to monitor the population's accessibility to health services, a series of survey are often used to understand public perceptions of the health care provider. Taiwan implemented the single-payer National Health Insurance in 1995 and has been conduc...

Few general practitioners have extensive daytime telephone contacts with patients. Forty nine general practitioners responding to a postal survey who reported handling a mean of nine or more calls a day were interviewed about their experiences. The nature of telephone contacts with patients and the organizational strategies employed to minimize disruption to surgeries were explored. Views on th...

OBJECTIVE A goal in intimate partner violence (IPV) research is to identify victims when they are treated in a hospital Emergency Department (ED) and predict which patients will sustain abuse again after discharge, so interventions can be targeted. Following patients to determine those prognostic factors is difficult, however, especially to study IPV given the risk to be assaulted if their part...

Approximately 2,500 women in Canada were diagnosed with cancer of the ovary in 1997 (NCIC, 1997). Standard therapy consists of surgical tumour debulking and cytotoxic chemotherapy. Very little data are available examining the most appropriate outpatient management of patients receiving chemotherapy. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of and benefit received from telephone foll...