GENERAL-PRACTICE POSTAL SURVEYS - A QUESTIONNAIRE TOO FAR

A primary care led NHS, driven by evidence based practice, needs to bu ild on a firm foundation of research in primary care. As researchers a re making increasing use of questionnaire surveys to assess general pr actitioners' views and attitudes, so response rates to questionnaire s urveys among general practitioners are dropping. The reasons include l ack of perceived relevance of the research and lack of information and feedback about it, and researchers need to be more aware of the reali ties of everyday practice. Approaches that might reverse this trend in clude monitoring all research activities going on in an area to ensure that practices are not overused, giving general practitioners incenti ves to participate, and improving the relevance of research and the qu ality of questionnaires.