Conducting a Telephonic Survey for Demographic Differences in Community Health Service Usage

This text discusses the sources of population information for conducting a telephonic survey to find demographic differences between community health service users and non-users. It also explores the relevant questionnaire for the survey. The text mentions stratified sampling as the sampling technique of choice and highlights the importance of informed consent of participants. The questionnaire includes closed and open-ended questions related to community health service usage, demographic attributes, and experience of the service.

STATISTICS FOR PUBLIC HEALTH
STUDENT ID:
[Pick the date]

PART A
The intention of conducting a telephonic survey is to find statistically significant
demographic differences between the two groups who tend to avail the community health
service and those who choose not to avail the same. The population information potentially
may be derived on account of below mentioned sources.
 Government Census & Records – Relevant information can be obtained from the
records maintained with the relevant local government under whose jurisdiction the
community falls. Also, for the beneficiaries the implementing agency can provide
valuable data (Medhi, 2015).
The main advantage would be that the underlying data would be accurate, reliable and
available without any hassle. However, the downside would be the standard nature
owing to which suitable changes may be required. Additionally, the data may not
highlight the data differently for those availing the service and others who do not use
the community health service (Hastie, Tibshirani & Friedman, 2016).
 Relevant Non-Government Organisations – Owing to involvement of NGO in the
implementation of various community level programs, thus customised relevant data
may be obtained from a relevant NGO active amongst the target population (Hillier,
2016)
The obvious advantage is that custom data relevant to the study can be easily obtained
but this custom data may at times lack reliability and thus adversely impact reliability
which is a key disadvantage (Hastie, Tibshirani & Friedman, 2016).
 Previous Research – It might be possible that the relevant data can be derived from
past research on the target population (Medhi, 2015).
The benefit is that the requisite data can be obtained without expenditure of time and
resources but the downside is that the data may be old and relevant in a context
different from the researcher (Hillier, 2016).

The sampling technique of choice in this case will be stratified sampling. This is because it
tends to ensure that the sample for the two groups closely reflects the population in terms of
key demographic attributes which require comparison here. For recruitment of participants,
either direct advertisements targeted to the population of interest may be floated or the
process can be completed by coordination by a local NGO active amongst the population of
interest (Hillier, 2016). The informed consent of the participants would play a crucial role in
the process as it is necessary for each participant. Further, the advantage of the NGO led
method would be with regards to obtained representative samples but can involve time and
resources. A relatively quicker way could be direct contact through advertisement but the
sample obtained may lack attributes similar to the population of interest Lind, Marchal &
Wathen,2016)
.
PART B
The relevant questionnaire is presented as illustrated below.
Q1: Are you a user of community health service program? (Closed Question)
Answer: Possible Options: Yes/No
Q2. Please specify your gender
Answer: Possible Options: Female/Male
Q3: What is your current age as on date?
Answer: Possible Options: 20 and lower/ 21-40 years/41-60 years/ 60+
Q4: What is your marital status as on date?
Answer: Possible Options: Single/Married/Divorced or Separated
Q5: Specify your education in full time years.
Answer: Possible Options: 10& less/11-14 years/15-17years/More than 17 years
Q6: Specify your latest year annual income on a pre-tax basis.

Answer: Possible Options: Less than $ 35,000/$ 35,001 to $ 55,000/$ 55,001 to $ 75,000/
More than $ 75,000
Q7: Choose the option that best describes your experience of the community health service
(use of Likert scale)
Answer: Possible Options: Very unhappy (1) / Unhappy (2) / Happy (3) / Very Happy (4)
Q8: Kindly outline issues or problems that either you faced or others face when availing these
services. (Open ended question)
Answer. Subjective in nature
Q9: If you are a non-user, kindly specify the reasons driving the non-usage of these services
(Open ended question)
Answer. Subjective in nature

References
Hair, J. F., Wolfinbarger, M., Money, A. H., Samouel, P., & Page, M. J. (2015). Essentials of
business research methods (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.
Hastie, T., Tibshirani, R. & Friedman, J. (2016). The Elements of Statistical Learning (4th
ed.). New York: Springer Publications.
Lind, A.D., Marchal, G.W. & Wathen, A.S. (2016). Statistical Techniques in Business and
Economics (15th ed.). New York : McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Medhi, J. (2015). Statistical Methods: An Introductory Text (4th ed.). Sydney: New Age
International.