Patient Satisfaction Surveys in the Outpatient Clinic Setting: The Variability of Response With Positively or Negatively Toned Questions
The purpose of this study was to determine whether a patient satisfaction survey in the outpatient clinic setting using questions with either a positive or negative tone would produce consistent responses. This was a prospective study using a 20-question paper survey delivered to medical students wh...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publishing
2019-09-01
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| Series: | Inquiry: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/0046958019875554 |
| _version_ | 1818898839411621888 |
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| author | Brittany Saldivar BS Carolyn Carter MD Stephanie L. Filipp MPH Matthew J. Gurka PhD Michael K. Davis MD, MBA |
| author_facet | Brittany Saldivar BS Carolyn Carter MD Stephanie L. Filipp MPH Matthew J. Gurka PhD Michael K. Davis MD, MBA |
| author_sort | Brittany Saldivar BS |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The purpose of this study was to determine whether a patient satisfaction survey in the outpatient clinic setting using questions with either a positive or negative tone would produce consistent responses. This was a prospective study using a 20-question paper survey delivered to medical students who were asked to rate on a scale of 1 to 10 to what degree they either agree or disagree with statements regarding their most recent personal outpatient clinic health care visit (any medical specialty). The same survey was administered again through an e-mail link 1 week later. One hundred fifty (77%) students completed the 20-item survey and 53 (35%) of the participating students completed the follow-up e-mail survey. Seven of the 10 question pairs on the paper survey revealed statistically significant differences in responses based on tone, with greater values for disagreement with negatively toned questions than values representing agreement with positive-toned questions. The match rates for similar questions posed on the paper survey and then the e-mail survey 1 week later ranged between 27.8% and 56.6%. This study demonstrated that, with an outpatient health care patient satisfaction survey, disagreement with a negative-toned question was stronger than agreement with a positive-toned question. There was poor correlation between survey responses when first posed on a paper survey and then repeated on a digital survey 1 week later. These findings suggest that the wording of survey questions may affect responses and that survey answers change with time and across delivery platforms. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T19:38:27Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4e2397ad58ac497a8abf7a1dba985ed2 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0046-9580 1945-7243 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T19:38:27Z |
| publishDate | 2019-09-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Inquiry: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing |
| spelling | doaj.art-4e2397ad58ac497a8abf7a1dba985ed22022-12-21T20:08:19ZengSAGE PublishingInquiry: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing0046-95801945-72432019-09-015610.1177/0046958019875554Patient Satisfaction Surveys in the Outpatient Clinic Setting: The Variability of Response With Positively or Negatively Toned QuestionsBrittany Saldivar BS0Carolyn Carter MD1Stephanie L. Filipp MPH2Matthew J. Gurka PhD3Michael K. Davis MD, MBA4University of Florida, Gainesville, USAUniversity of Florida, Gainesville, USAUniversity of Florida, Gainesville, USAUniversity of Florida, Gainesville, USAUniversity of Florida, Gainesville, USAThe purpose of this study was to determine whether a patient satisfaction survey in the outpatient clinic setting using questions with either a positive or negative tone would produce consistent responses. This was a prospective study using a 20-question paper survey delivered to medical students who were asked to rate on a scale of 1 to 10 to what degree they either agree or disagree with statements regarding their most recent personal outpatient clinic health care visit (any medical specialty). The same survey was administered again through an e-mail link 1 week later. One hundred fifty (77%) students completed the 20-item survey and 53 (35%) of the participating students completed the follow-up e-mail survey. Seven of the 10 question pairs on the paper survey revealed statistically significant differences in responses based on tone, with greater values for disagreement with negatively toned questions than values representing agreement with positive-toned questions. The match rates for similar questions posed on the paper survey and then the e-mail survey 1 week later ranged between 27.8% and 56.6%. This study demonstrated that, with an outpatient health care patient satisfaction survey, disagreement with a negative-toned question was stronger than agreement with a positive-toned question. There was poor correlation between survey responses when first posed on a paper survey and then repeated on a digital survey 1 week later. These findings suggest that the wording of survey questions may affect responses and that survey answers change with time and across delivery platforms.https://doi.org/10.1177/0046958019875554 |
| spellingShingle | Brittany Saldivar BS Carolyn Carter MD Stephanie L. Filipp MPH Matthew J. Gurka PhD Michael K. Davis MD, MBA Patient Satisfaction Surveys in the Outpatient Clinic Setting: The Variability of Response With Positively or Negatively Toned Questions Inquiry: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing |
| title | Patient Satisfaction Surveys in the Outpatient Clinic Setting: The Variability of Response With Positively or Negatively Toned Questions |
| title_full | Patient Satisfaction Surveys in the Outpatient Clinic Setting: The Variability of Response With Positively or Negatively Toned Questions |
| title_fullStr | Patient Satisfaction Surveys in the Outpatient Clinic Setting: The Variability of Response With Positively or Negatively Toned Questions |
| title_full_unstemmed | Patient Satisfaction Surveys in the Outpatient Clinic Setting: The Variability of Response With Positively or Negatively Toned Questions |
| title_short | Patient Satisfaction Surveys in the Outpatient Clinic Setting: The Variability of Response With Positively or Negatively Toned Questions |
| title_sort | patient satisfaction surveys in the outpatient clinic setting the variability of response with positively or negatively toned questions |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/0046958019875554 |
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