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In Reply: Mr Holstein and Dr Lundberg argue that our sample is likely to be biased, leading us to understate the prevalence of Internet use for health. We believe our sample is representative. We conducted a number of direct comparisons of our sample with recognized benchmarks and found results consistent with the validity of the sample. Additional work by Knowledge Networks also supports the validity of the panel for supporting the kinds of analyses we conducted.¹

While Holstein and Lundberg cite the results of random-digit dialing, it is not clear to us that one should infer information about the quality of survey results from the survey methods used alone. It is quite possible for random-digit dialed surveys to reach biased samples and produce inaccurate results. Efforts to evaluate differences between survey results would be enhanced by more open dissemination of methodological information, as Dr Donelan suggests. Many reports, including many . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Laurence Baker, PhD; Todd H. Wagner, PhD; M. Kate Bundorf, MBA, MPH, PhD
Department of Health Research and Policy
School of Medicine
Center for Health Policy
Center for Primary Care and Outcomes Research

Sara Singer, MBA
Center for Health Policy
Center for Primary Care and Outcomes Research
Stanford University
Stanford, Calif

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