Number and percentage (ranked highest to lowest) of respondents indicating that the listed items (ie, assurances) might encourage them to respond honestly to research questions about end-of-life practices
| Assurances that might encourage honesty regarding end-of-life practices | Yes | Per cent |
|---|---|---|
| (1) The use of anonymous written replies | 346 | 79.4 |
| (2) Reassurance that the method made it absolutely impossible to link respondent identity with responses | 270 | 61.9 |
| (3) Signed undertaking by the researchers never to reveal the respondent identity | 185 | 42.4 |
| (4) Guarantee from government department, medical council, etc that the replies would never be used to investigate the practices of any individual respondent | 177 | 40.6 |
| (5) The use of interviews with a registered medical practitioner, with guarantee that the responses would be anonymous | 162 | 37.2 |
| (6) Promise from researchers to never divulge the link between the respondents and their replies, even if faced with prosecution | 130 | 29.8 |
| (7) Endorsement of survey from the Medical Council of New Zealand | 123 | 28.2 |
| (8) The use of an anonymous internet survey | 117 | 26.8 |
| (9) The use of interviews with the researcher, with guarantee that the responses would be anonymous | 113 | 25.9 |
| (10) Endorsement of survey from the Ministry of Health | 85 | 19.5 |