Location, Location, Location: Incentives and Geography

• Activity Number: 186
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Monday, August 5, 2013 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
• Sponsor: Survey Research Methods Section
• Author(s): Alicia M. Frasier*+ and Jacquelyn M. George and Heather M. Morrison and Matthew D. Bramlett
• Companies: NORC at the University of Chicago and NORC at the University of Chicago and NORC at the University of Chicago and National Center for Health Statistics
• Keywords: RDD ; Cell Telephone ; Geography ; Incentives

Abstract

To counter the burden associated with survey participation and increase participation rates, many surveys offer incentives to participants, but relatively little is known about the efficacy of incentives by geography. We use data from the 2011-2012 National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH), a large population-based survey of parents or guardians of children under 18 years old conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics. The NSCH included over 66,000 landline and 31,000 cell telephone interviews. We examine whether incentives are more effective in certain geographical areas of the U.S. using geographical information tied to landline numbers and area codes associated with cell telephone numbers. The incentive treatment models differed between landline and cell, but both were refusal-based and involved cash payments - some prepaid, some promised. We compare refusal and incentive offer rates, participation rates post incentive offer, and completion rates within sample types to ascertain the effectiveness of incentives by varying geographical factors (e.g., area codes, states, regions), and geographical area types (e.g., urban vs. rural).