2 Data collection and validity

This study aims to explore the workforce characteristics of Australian Oral Health Professionals over time. To achieve this aim, the study’s objective is to enroll a national sample of OHPs that will participate in biennial, longitudinal surveys. The surveys are expected to be undertaken in 2023, 2025 and finishing in 2027.

The baseline study commenced in 2023 and participants were recruited through voluntary, convenience sample methods with data collected using the online survey platform, Qualtrics. Volunteers were recruited with the assistance of the oral health professions’ associations: Dental Hygienists Association of Australia (DHAA) and the Australian Dental and Oral Health Therapist’s Association (ADOHTA). Participation with the survey was encouraged through social media platforms, with links to the survey made widely available through Twitter/X and Facebook.

Data collection for the baseline survey commenced on 1 February 2023 and the final survey was submitted on 28 March 2023. In total, there were 828 complete or partial submissions and 643 (77.7%) submissions were completed. However, there were responses that did not meet the internal and external validity checks that were established before the commencement of this project. Submissions that were not complete were included in the validity checks and calculations.

The internal validity checks required participants to repeat their response about their gender at two times within the survey. There were 39 (4.7%) responses that were not valid based on this condition. The second validity check required participants to respond TRUE to a given question and 3 (0.4%) participants were deemed invalid for this condition.

The external validity check was completed by a member of the research team with no connections to the professions. The researcher compared the names and location details of the survey participants with the registration details with the (Ahpra) registry of practitioners. The names, practicing location (Australian state), registration details were checked with the registry. This process identified surveys that were commenced more than once by the same individual based on either name or email and the survey that was most complete was retained while deleting the other record. There were 419 (50.6%) survey participants that met external validity criteria.

There were 431 (52.1%) of 828 responses that were deemed as valid through the internal and external validity check process.

Table 2.1 Summary of internal and external validity check for the 828 responses received for the baseline Australian Oral Health Workforce Cohort Study.