| Feedback method |
For |
Against |
| Survey using handheld portable devices |
- For data collection at the practice
- Questionnaires easily tailored to local setting
- Automatic data entry
- Rapid turnaround of results possible
- Can be self-administered by patients/users
|
- Questionnaires must be brief
- Consider infection control if patients handle devices
- Needs member of staff to manage devices and monitor use
- May be difficult to track response rates
- Sample will be unrepresentative if staff avoid potential negative respondents or 'difficult' volunteers because of language barriers or disabilities
|
| Touch-screen kiosks |
- For data collection at the practice
- Can be sited in waiting rooms
- Automatic data entry
- Rapid turnaround of results
- Anonymous
|
- Questionnaires must be brief
- Consider infection control if patients handle devices
- Impossible to calculate response rates
- Patients may submit answers more than once
- Time pressures may put people off taking part
- Vulnerable to misuse
|
| Online survey |
- User-friendly design – questions can be tailored to respondent
- Reminders easy to send to patients
- Data entry is automatic
- Rapid turnaround of results possible
- Can be self-administered by patients/users
|
- Requires email addresses
- Requires access to internet so representative sample not possible
- Questionnaire needs to be brief
- IT issues because users have different operating systems and browsers
- Poorer quality responses – fatigue in answering questions may be more evident in online surveys
- May not generate high response where trust and understanding of technology is low
|
| Postal survey (self-completion) |
- Can reach large numbers
- Less intrusive than other methods
- No influence from interviewer so chance of bias is removed
- Questionnaires can be fairly long and detailed
- Can collect demographic data
- Possible to achieve high response rates if reminders are sent
- Relatively cheap
|
- Not suitable for patients with low literacy
- Not suitable for non-English speakers unless language known in advance or translationservice available
- Requires careful administration
- Data entry (manual or scanned) takes time
- Requires expertise in use of statistical package to analyse results
|
| Interviewer administered survey (eg someone in the waiting room) |
- Suitable for low literacy groups
- Can enter data while conducting interview (CATI)
- Results can be available quickly
|
- Training required for interviewers
- Similar problems as for postal surveys – language barriers, data entry (without CAPI) and analysis
- Time-consuming and expensive
|
| Telephone survey |
- Suitable for low literacy groups
- Can enter data while conducting interview (CATI)
- Results can be available quickly
|
- Requires phone numbers
- Response rates often low
- Requires frequent call backs at different times of day to obtain representative sample
- Questionnaire needs to be brief
- Interviewers must be trained
|
| Automated telephone survey (Interactive Voice Response (IVR) or key press) |
- Suitable for low literacy groups
- Data entered automatically
- Can be produced in multiple languages
|
- Requires phone numbers
- Response rates often low
- Questionnaire needs to be very brief
|
| In-depth interviews |
- Can produce richer, more detailed data
- Allows respondents to express themselves in their own words
|
- Expensive
- Interviewers must be trained
- Problem of interviewer bias
- Transcribing and data analysis is time-consuming
|
| Web-based feedback (free text) |
- Allows people to make any comments they want to about the care they’ve received
- Respondents can be asked to give their views on specific topics
- Responses are available for others to read
|
- It is not suitable for people who do not have internet access, so representative coverage not possible
- Sites must be moderated to avoid malicious comments
- It may not represent majority view – likely to attract those wanting to give very favourable or very critical comments
|
| Comment cards, exit surveys, suggestion boxes, video boxes |
- Can be used to collect on-site feedback, usually unstructured
- Feedback can be analysed quickly
|
- Likely to be completed by a small minority unless patients are specifically invited to respond
|
