The Who Study

Would you be happy to be contacted about research?

The Who logo

Summary

The Who is a randomised study which will examine the utility of a text message (SMS) sent to people by their general practice, with a link URL to an online Keele Health Survey (KHS) questionnaire, to collect brief research data. The aim of this study is to examine the proportion of people registered with primary care general practices that would be happy to be contacted about research of relevance to them.

Chief Investigator: Professor Christian Mallen
Associate Investigator: Sarah Lawton
Trial Manager: Sarah Lawton
Sponsor / reference number: Keele University / RG-0322-21
Funder / reference number: Versus Arthritis
UKCRN study portfolio reference number: 50584
Start date: 1 Apr 2021
End date:  31 Mar 2022  

Study design

This is a randomised observational study.

Aim and objectives

The aim of this study is to examine the proportion of people registered at participating primary care general practices that would be happy to be contacted about research of relevance to them.

Primary objectives

The specific research objectives of this study are:

  • To examine response rates to an invitation to complete an online Keele Health Survey questionnaire, delivered by SMS message from the general practice.
  • To examine the difference in response rates to the invitation to participate in the research study with and without a pre-notification text message (SMS).
  • To estimate the number of people registered at participating primary care general practices that would be happy to be contacted about future research studies relevant to their health and to explore the reasons for their answers.
  • To explore any demographic variances in completion responses. 
  • To estimate research question completion rate feasibility, for future use of SMS messages containing a link URL to an online Keele Health Survey questionnaire to collect research data.