Does Internet Data Collection Improve Cohort Retention?

NCT01740674 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: MSI-865
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 301
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

One of the biggest challenges of conducting research where the investigators follow people over a long period of time is keeping the participants involved. One of way that investigators may be able to improve participant involvement in research is to give participants the opportunity to complete their questionnaires online. Here's how the investigators think the Internet data collection system will help to keep participants involved and ultimately help to answer important questions about the effects of nutrition during pregnancy:

1. 1.It will allow investigators to present complicated questionnaires in a way that doesn't confuse participants. For example, instead of telling participants to skip the remainder of a question if they answered no to the first part of the question, the ePRO system does the skipping for them. The result is less confusion, fewer questions to read, and less of the participant's time.
2. 2.It provides a convenient way for participants to keep track of where to find the questionnaire, and how much they have already completed. Participants sometimes don't have time to answer all of the investigator's questions in one sitting. The ePRO system keeps track of how much participants have already done and it's ready to keep going whenever the participant has time. It also avoids the common problem of losing the questionnaires to the household paperwork pile, or worse to the recycling bin.
3. 3.It provides timely reminders to participants. Study participants, and especially new moms, are busy and they forget to complete the questionnaires. The ePRO system can provide timely reminders encouraging participants to respond.
4. 4.It helps participants complete the questionnaires accurately. The ePRO system has an automatic error detection ability that will alert participants to any questions they missed or completed incorrectly.

Conditions

Internet Data Collection

Keywords

internet data collection; longitudinal research; cohort retention

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Participant retention 6 months postpartum

  participant retention is defined as the number of participants providing data at 6 months postpartum.

  postpartum 6 months

• Participant retention 12 months postpartum

  participant retention is defined as the number of participants providing data at 12 months postpartum.

  12 months postpartum

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• Completeness of collected data 6 months postpartum

  postpartum 6 months

• Completeness of collected data 12 months postpartum

  postpartum 12 months

Study Arms (2)

Electronic data collection

EXPERIMENTAL

The group of participants who will complete questionnaires via the internet

Other: Electronic data collection

Paper data collection

NO INTERVENTION

The group of participants who will continue to complete paper based questionnaires, as has been the practice for this longitudinal study.

Interventions

Electronic data collection OTHER

Electronic data collection

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 16 Years+
• Sex: female
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• current participant in the Alberta Pregnancy Outcomes and Nutrition Study
• woman must have an infant less than 1 year of age

You may not qualify if:

• women who have formally withdrawn from the Alberta Pregnancy Outcomes and Nutrition Study

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Calgary: lead
• M.S.I. Foundation: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Alberta Children's Hospital

Calgary, Alberta, T3B 6A8, Canada

Location

Related Publications (5)

• Davis LL, Broome ME, Cox RP. Maximizing retention in community-based clinical trials. J Nurs Scholarsh. 2002;34(1):47-53. doi: 10.1111/j.1547-5069.2002.00047.x.

  PMID: 11901967 BACKGROUND

• Vergnaud AC, Touvier M, Mejean C, Kesse-Guyot E, Pollet C, Malon A, Castetbon K, Hercberg S. Agreement between web-based and paper versions of a socio-demographic questionnaire in the NutriNet-Sante study. Int J Public Health. 2011 Aug;56(4):407-17. doi: 10.1007/s00038-011-0257-5. Epub 2011 May 3.

  PMID: 21538094 BACKGROUND

• Smith B, Smith TC, Gray GC, Ryan MA; Millennium Cohort Study Team. When epidemiology meets the Internet: Web-based surveys in the Millennium Cohort Study. Am J Epidemiol. 2007 Dec 1;166(11):1345-54. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwm212. Epub 2007 Aug 28.

  PMID: 17728269 BACKGROUND

• Welker JA. Implementation of electronic data capture systems: barriers and solutions. Contemp Clin Trials. 2007 May;28(3):329-36. doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2007.01.001. Epub 2007 Jan 11.

  PMID: 17287151 BACKGROUND

• Birnbaum MH. Human research and data collection via the internet. Annu Rev Psychol. 2004;55:803-32. doi: 10.1146/annurev.psych.55.090902.141601.

  PMID: 14744235 BACKGROUND

Study Officials

• Gerry Giesbrecht, PhD

  University of Calgary

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Assistant Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: November 20, 2012
• First Posted: December 4, 2012
• Study Start: December 1, 2012
• Primary Completion: November 1, 2014
• Study Completion: November 1, 2014
• Last Updated: December 8, 2014

Record last verified: 2014-12

Locations

CA (1)