Monetary Incentives in Clinician Surveys: An Analysis and Systematic Review With a Focus on Establishing Best Practices

Abstract

Surveys involving health care providers continue to be characterized by low and declining response rates (RRs), and researchers have utilized various strategies to increase survey participation. An important approach is to employ monetary incentives to improve survey response. Using a systematic review and analyses of 100 randomized comparisons (published in 48 papers) between monetary incentives and a non-incentive condition, this paper seeks to advance the understanding of best practices for using monetary incentives in clinician surveys. These analyses show even small incentives (≤$2) to be effective in improving clinician response relative to non-incentive subgroups, with diminished returns associated with serial incremental increases above that amount up to amounts greater than $25, at which point there is an appreciable improvement, supporting the use of higher incentives in this population. Cash and direct cash equivalents (e.g., cash cards and checks) produced greater odds of survey participation compared to vouchers, lotteries and charitable contributions, with lotteries and charities being the least effective forms of monetary incentive. Survey mode, timing and ethical considerations are also addressed. Noting the challenges associated with surveying clinicians, researchers must make every effort to improve access to this difficult-to-reach population by implementing appropriate incentive-based strategies designed to improve participation rates.