A Randomized Trial of Incentives to Improve Response Rates to a Mailed Women's Health Questionnaire

Whiteman, Maura K.; Langenberg, Patricia; Kjerulff, Kristen H.; McCarter, Robert; Flaws, Jodi A.

doi:10.1089/154099903322447783

Cited by 39 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…The timing of incentives, however, is not as well-characterized and questions remain whether incentives should be included within initial mailings or whether better response rates are realized when incentives are provided upon survey completion. To date, 13 studies have been conducted and the majority show that response rates are higher when incentives are provided at the time of survey administration rather than upon return (1)(2)(3)(4). However, the majority of these studies were conducted in healthy populations; to date, no studies have explored conditional (incentive provided upon survey completion) versus unconditional (incentive provided at the time of survey administration) incentives among clinicbased pediatric populations and/or their parents or guardians.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Response Rates to a Mailed Survey Targeting Childhood Cancer Survivors: A Comparison of Conditional versus Unconditional Incentives

Rosoff

Werner²,

Clipp³

et al. 2005

Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers &Amp; Prevention

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Objective: Mailed surveys are widely used to collect epidemiologic and health service data. Given that nonresponse can threaten the validity of surveys, modest incentives are often used to increase response rates. A study was undertaken among childhood cancer survivors and their parents to determine if response rate to a mailed survey differed with provision of immediate versus delayed incentives. Design: A self-administered survey designed to ascertain health behaviors was mailed to 397 childhood cancer survivors (and their parents if the survivor was <18 years of age). Subjects were randomized into two groups based on gender, age, race, and cancer type. One group received a $10 incentive with their blank survey (unconditional incentive), whereas the other group received the incentive upon receipt of their completed survey (conditional incentive). If children were minors, both the parent and the child received incentives.Results: No significant differences in response rates were observed with respect to gender, age, race, or cancer type. However, significant differences in response rates were observed between incentive groups, with unconditional incentives yielding significantly higher response rates than conditional incentives for child survivors who were z z18 years (64.4% versus 49.0%), as well as younger child survivors (62.5% versus 43.6%) and their parents (64.8% versus 41.5%; all P < 0.05). Conclusions: The provision of an immediate incentive generated significantly higher response rates to this mailed health survey among childhood cancer survivors and their parents. Given that survey studies are commonly conducted across various pediatric populations, these findings may help inform the design of future pediatric survey research. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Response Rates to a Mailed Survey Targeting Childhood Cancer Survivors: A Comparison of Conditional versus Unconditional Incentives

Rosoff

Werner²,

Clipp³

et al. 2005

Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers &Amp; Prevention

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“…One way to inform participants of a study is via mailed introductory postcards. This form of prenotification has been found to increase response rates for both mail (Whiteman et al 2003) and telephone (Iredell et al 2004) survey modes. It is less clear whether introductory postcards function similarly for online surveys.…”

Section: Introduction Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining the Effect of Prenotification Postcards on Online Survey Response Rate in a University Graduate Sample

2014

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“…As postal authorities often advise against sending cash by mail, an alternative approach to cash incentives is the use of lottery tickets. Some studies have found lottery tickets to have a positive influence on response rates [8,9] other studies found no effect [10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can incentives undermine intrinsic motivation to participate in epidemiologic surveys?

2010

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Response rates to surveys are decreasing. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of lottery tickets as incentives in an epidemiologic control group. A self-administered questionnaire was sent to parents in the municipality of Stockholm, Sweden, who were to be used as a control group in a study addressing stress in parents of children with cancer. A stratified random sample of 450 parents were randomized into three incentive groups: (a) no incentive; (b) a promised incentive of one lottery ticket to be received upon reply; (c) a promised incentive of one lottery ticket to be received upon reply and an additional lottery ticket upon reply within 1 week. The overall response rate across the three groups was 65.3%. The response rate was highest in the no incentive group (69.3%) and lowest in the one plus one lottery ticket group (62.0%). In a survival analysis, the difference between the two response curves was significant by the log-rank test (p=0.04), with the no incentive group having a shorter time to response than the incentive group. Our findings suggest that the use of lottery tickets as incentives to increase participation in a mail questionnaire among parents may be less valuable or even harmful. Incentives may undermine motivation in studies in which the intrinsic motivation of the respondents is already high.

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A Randomized Trial of Incentives to Improve Response Rates to a Mailed Women's Health Questionnaire

Abstract: These results indicate that response rates to mailed women's health questionnaires may be improved with modest incentives, particularly cash incentives.

Cited by 39 publications

References 13 publications

Response Rates to a Mailed Survey Targeting Childhood Cancer Survivors: A Comparison of Conditional versus Unconditional Incentives

Response Rates to a Mailed Survey Targeting Childhood Cancer Survivors: A Comparison of Conditional versus Unconditional Incentives

Examining the Effect of Prenotification Postcards on Online Survey Response Rate in a University Graduate Sample

Can incentives undermine intrinsic motivation to participate in epidemiologic surveys?

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