Analyzing Survey Response Time and Response Rate for Colorectal Cancer Patients Using Logistic and Poisson Regression

Abstract: Cancer is a highly prevalent disease worldwide, claiming hundreds of lives each year. In the field of cancer research, it is customary to conduct surveys in which patients are asked to self-report and assess their symptoms and overall health. In such research, it is essential for patients to respond promptly to questionnaires to avoid recall bias and for a representative patient sample to respond to avoid biased sampling. This report aims to investigate the factors that impact response rate and response time using logistic regression and Poisson regression. The study focuses on a dataset of patients with colorectal cancer, with the response rate of patients with pancreatic cancer serving as a reference. By analyzing variables such as gender, age, place of residence, and the method of survey notification, the conclusion is that patients over the age of 80 who received their survey login codes on paper are the least responsive and underrepresented subgroup of the sample. In the analysis of the response time using Poisson regression, the conclusion is that the notification channel has the most significant impact on response rate.