A comparison study of the uninsured, smoking status and obesity rates using two different survey methods: Telephone survey and face-to-face survey

This study compared the results obtained from using two different survey methods - a face-to-face field survey conducted at a grocery store in 2006 and an existing cross-sectional random telephone survey administered in 2004. Conducting the survey face-to-face revealed significant differences in demographic data. T-tests revealed that the 2004 phone survey respondents were older. The chi-square analysis revealed no difference in gender of respondents or BMI ranges between the groups, however the 2006 face-to-face survey had a higher percentage of minorities and smokers. The 2004 phone survey respondents revealed a higher educated population. The chi-square tests conducted for both surveys did not suggest a dependent relationship between insurance status, overweight/obesity and smoking status (p≤.05).