Advances in Medical Education and Practice (Aug 2020)
Quality and Impact of Survey Research Among Anesthesiologists: A Systematic Review
Abstract
Emily D Geyer,1 Rebecca Miller,1 Stephani S Kim,1 Joseph D Tobias,1,2 Olubukola O Nafiu,1 Dmitry Tumin3 1Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, OH, USA; 2Department of Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA; 3Department of Pediatrics, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USACorrespondence: Stephani S Kim KimDepartment of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, 700 Children’s Drive, Columbus, OH 43205, USATel +1 614 722-2675Fax +1 614 722-4203Email [email protected]: New technology has facilitated survey research of anesthesia professional society members. We evaluated prevailing metrics of quality and impact of published research studies based on surveys of anesthesiologists. We hypothesized that adherence to recommended practices (such as use of reminders) would be associated with increased survey response rates, and that higher response rates would be associated with higher article impact. Using the MEDLINE database, we identified 45 English-language research articles published in 2010– 2017 reporting original data from surveys of anesthesiologists. The median response rate was 37% (IQR: 25– 46%). Recommended survey practices, including the use of reminders (p = 0.861) and validated questionnaires (p = 0.719), were not correlated with response rates. In turn, survey response rates were not associated with measures of article impact (p = 0.528). The impact of published research based on surveys of anesthesiologists, as measured by citation scores (p = 0.493) and Altmetrics (p = 0.826), may be driven primarily by the novel data or questions raised using survey methodology, but does not appear to be associated with response rates. Improving reporting of survey methodology and understanding possible sources of non-response bias are important for future studies in this area.Keywords: survey methodology, anesthesiologist, response rate, survey research, systematic review
