TRICARE Evaluation: The Effect of the Survey Implementation Process on Response
Published Date: July 1, 1994
To evaluate the TRICARE demonstration project in the Tidewater area of Virginia, we need to collect health care information about military beneficiaries that is not available from administrative records. We chose to acquire information on access, satisfaction, and health status from a mail survey. We conducted a baseline mail survey in the fall of 1992, before the start of TRICARE. We plan to conduct a follow-up survey in the winter of 1995. Our response rate for the baseline survey was lower than expected, with 38 percent of the adult beneficiaries responding. With high levels of nonresponse, one can never be sure that there isn't some degree of bias in the survey responses. Therefore, we feel strongly about trying to improve the response rate for the follow-up survey. We reworked our survey implementation plan and tested it on a small sample of Navy beneficiaries. We find that modifying the survey implementation process has a dramatic effect on the response rate. This paper discusses the modifications we made and how they specifically affect the response rate.
