 |
|
 | |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|||||||
|
Because of the need to obtain an adequate and representative sample of subjects, it is important that the "burden" of study participation be acceptable to the vast majority of qualified subjects. That is, subjects must be willing and able to take the time and make the effort to complete the necessary data collection procedures. To a certain extent, the amount of burden that subjects will accept can be increased if data collection procedures are made more convenient (e.g. if exams take place in the subject's home or some other agreeable location) or if subjects are compensated for their time and effort. However, ultimately, the time available for data collection, and thus the amount of data that can be collected, is limited. On the other hand, failure to collect important data on the characteristics of the TMD pain problem, potential risk factors, and demographic information can result in an inability to thoroughly describe the study population, or inability to control for important factors in the data analysis. The key to
balancing the need for data against a response burden that results
in a high refusal rate is to consider at the outset what the most
important analyses will be. A prioritized set of research questions
will lead to prioritizing the questionnaire and examination items
to be collected. Two- stage designs (e.g. a telephone survey followed
by an examination of a subset of subjects) allow for additional
data collection from those subjects involved in the second stage.
|
|||||||
