How lousy can ye be?????

littlema

As part of a 1 year Masters in Nursing (working weekends to part fund it with a dig out from family) I have to send out 250 Questionnaires on whose replies I will base my thesis. After three weeks I only have back 31replies and I am screwed!!!!!!!!!!!!
I enclosed a self addressed stamped envelope and the promise of a donation to every reply I got and I still only got those few replies, so I pose the question, "how lousy can ye be?" Any time I ever got a similar request, I made it my business to reply, as it is essential for the person doing the course and I admire anyone paying the HUGE fees for post-grad courses and working at the same time. But nowadays no-one wants to help out their fellow worker and I have lost all faith in people today.
God help me, how can I base a thesis on 31 replies? has anyone else had this problem and how did they solve it? (I paid for the printing, both types of envelopes, the stamps and the donation so I can't retry and I haven't enough time either!)

Sid_Justice

You send out 250 questionnaires? how many were you hoping to get back? I think >10% return rate is a lot better than lousy. if emailing questionnaires isn't an option you can still write your thesis on the 31 replies but obviously the statistical quality of your results is diminished. I'd say plough on with it, you won't be failed based on a bad turn out.imo

Yillan

31 replies, you having sent along a stamped address envelope is kinda bad I suppose. 250*55c= €137... geez. There's probably some buy in bulk stamp thing I don't know about, but still you must have spent a bit and it should have been better acknowledged by your targets.

But then again it depends on who you were sending questionnaires to. 250 names out of the phonebook? Or 250 Drs out of the phonebook. Whoever you were looking for, it seems like you misjudged how willing they would be to do your questionnaire. Full Time nurses might just be way too busy and if they are, I don't know if they're all that lousy.

As an unemployed lout, I would definitely do it and perhaps you too have a tinted view of how much free time people have, being a student yourself. Probably not as black and white as you think and if your questionnaire has had trouble gaining an adequate response, your markers should be sympathetic, this is of course provided the problem is with those polled rather than the questionnaire itself.

cici21

I think that generally people don't go out of their way to sit down with a pen, answer the questionnaire and then find a post box. I would recommend setting up an account on a site such as surveymonkey.com and uploading your questionnaire here. Then email it around to your classmates, friends, other nursing years. People are more likely to respond if it is an online survey. Also seeing as it is exam time at the minute lots of people will be procrastinating in the library, checking their emails. A 5 minute survey can act as a great study break.
I would also ensure the survey is nice and concise. The shorter it is the more likely people will respond to it.

I agree with the above post. 31 back is not a bad figure. And you can state replies as a limitation of the study.Hope it helps

Piriz

Hi there,

i agree that 31 is a low response out of 250.. i think the average is a ~25-30% return on survey questionnaires. in many studies the researcher will send out 'reminders' to boost the response rate ..this could be by phone if you have their contact details or by post..i suggest you consider this...it shows that you did everything to acquire responses. Nevertheless your study results will have limitations due to a low response but this should not affect your ability to continue and complete your research based on 31 responses i.e. dont stress too much.

On another note, fair play for doing what your doing!