A Comparison of Different Forms of Email Study Announcements through Asian-American Organizations

Aims:

Internet recruitment is the newest and an effective way to reach potential research participants in geographically dispersed areas. Among various ethnic groups, Asian Americans have been neglected most in health literature; besides, they are one of the groups that are difficult to be recruited for research projects. This presentation is to determine the effectiveness of different e-mail forms that were sent to Asian American Internet organizations and to provide directions for future recruitment of middle-aged Asian American women through the Internet.

Methods:

This was a cross-sectional comparative pilot study aimed at testing different forms of 899 e-mails toward Asian American Internet organizations. The organizations were searched through Dogpile (Metasearch Engines), and only 296 were identified as eligible for the study. Then, three types of emails were sent to the organizations (11 for form 1, 191 for form 2, and 94 for form 3).

Form 1: general title, general introduction.

Form 2: general title, greeting, introduction.

Form 3: name, position title, greeting, introduction.

The response rates were compared by Chi-Square tests.

Results:

The response rate of form 3 was the best (14.89%) and that of form 1 the worst (0%). There were significant differences among different forms (x2= 12.97, p<.01).

Conclusions:

The results suggest that formality and respect are important in contacting Asian American organizations to get responses in the recruitment of research participants.

Acknowledgement:

This analysis is part of a national internet study (A Multiethnic Internet Study on Menopausal Symptoms) funded by the National Institute of Health (1R01NR008926).