Cameron L Randall, Daniel W McNeil, Richard J Crout, Robert J Weyant, Mary L Marazita
{"title":"Collecting psychosocial self-report data in oral health research: impact of literacy level and computerised administration.","authors":"Cameron L Randall, Daniel W McNeil, Richard J Crout, Robert J Weyant, Mary L Marazita","doi":"","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>In oral and other health research, participant literacy levels may impact the quality of data obtained through self-report (e.g., degree of data missingness). This study addressed whether computerized administration of a battery of psychosocial instruments used in an oral health disparities research protocol yielded more complete data than paper-and-pencil administration and aimed to determine the role of general literacy in differences in data missingness between administration types.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>Oral health data were obtained from 1,652 adolescent and adult participants who were administered a large questionnaire battery via either paper-and-pencil or tablet personal computer. Number of unanswered items for each participant was compared across administration mode. For a subset of 171 participants who were randomized to one of the administration modes, general literacy and satisfaction with the questionnaire experience also were assessed.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Participants assigned to complete the oral health questionnaire battery via tablet PC were significantly more likely than those assigned to the paper-and-pencil condition to have missing data for at least one item (<i>p</i> < .001); however, for participants who had at least one missing item, paper-and-pencil administration was associated with a greater number of items missed than was tablet PC administration (<i>p</i> < .001). Across administration modes, participants with higher literacy level completed the questionnaire battery more rapidly than their lower literacy counterparts (<i>p</i> < .001). Participant satisfaction was similar for both modes of questionnaire administration (<i>p</i> ≥ .29).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>These results suggest that a certain type of data missingness may be decreased through the use of a tablet computer for questionnaire administration.</p>","PeriodicalId":91171,"journal":{"name":"Social science and dentistry","volume":"2 2","pages":"80-87"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2013-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4545655/pdf/nihms574550.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Social science and dentistry","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Objectives: In oral and other health research, participant literacy levels may impact the quality of data obtained through self-report (e.g., degree of data missingness). This study addressed whether computerized administration of a battery of psychosocial instruments used in an oral health disparities research protocol yielded more complete data than paper-and-pencil administration and aimed to determine the role of general literacy in differences in data missingness between administration types.
Design: Oral health data were obtained from 1,652 adolescent and adult participants who were administered a large questionnaire battery via either paper-and-pencil or tablet personal computer. Number of unanswered items for each participant was compared across administration mode. For a subset of 171 participants who were randomized to one of the administration modes, general literacy and satisfaction with the questionnaire experience also were assessed.
Results: Participants assigned to complete the oral health questionnaire battery via tablet PC were significantly more likely than those assigned to the paper-and-pencil condition to have missing data for at least one item (p < .001); however, for participants who had at least one missing item, paper-and-pencil administration was associated with a greater number of items missed than was tablet PC administration (p < .001). Across administration modes, participants with higher literacy level completed the questionnaire battery more rapidly than their lower literacy counterparts (p < .001). Participant satisfaction was similar for both modes of questionnaire administration (p ≥ .29).
Conclusions: These results suggest that a certain type of data missingness may be decreased through the use of a tablet computer for questionnaire administration.