The demographics of E-mail for emergency medicine research

Escalating costs of research combined with increasing use of email by emergency physicians (EP), justifies studying whether electronic surveying (ES) is a valid methodology for research, Our primary study abject is to delineate the demographics of EP with e-mail, Secondary objectives are to ascertain ES response rates and to identify response bias between "individual" versus "bulk" e-mailings, The 1999 American College of Emergency Physicians Membership Guide identified a pool of e-mail addresses. Of the 1,752 EP surveyed, 1,386 (79%) had valid e-mail addresses and 574 responded, A response rate of 41% questions the validity of ES for research, Demographic data of EP regarding mean age (38.2 years); gender (82.4% men); title (86.8% MD); practice (87% ED); practice location (49.6% urban); training (56% EM residency); research participation (65.5%); screening e-mail (7%); is representative of EP overall, Finally, comparison of individual versus bulk e-mail to survey participants showed a 13.6% (5.5-21.7; 95% CI) improvement in overall response. (Am J Emerg Med 2001;19:192-195, Copyright (C) 2001 by W.B. Saunders Company).