Effects of Incentive Amount and Type on Web Survey Response Rates
Jared Coopersmith
Mathematica Policy Research
Lisa Klein Vogel
Mathematica Policy Research
Timothy Bruursema
Mathematica Policy Research
Kathleen Feeney
Mathematica Policy Research
Providing meaningful incentives demonstrates to respondents that researchers understand the competing demands on their time. The effects of incentives are strongly established in survey research literature as effective tools for increasing response. However, effectiveness of incentives on web-administered surveys is less clear, and can be impacted by a number of factors, including incentive type, amount, and timing. This paper used data collected during the first wave of a nationally-representative survey of public school principals designed to take place across three waves of data collection. To determine a maximally-effective incentive strategy for subsequent years, we embedded an experiment into the study. All sample members were eligible for a standard $50 post-response incentive, but were also randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions: (1) an additional $50 incentive for completing early in the field period, (2) a $25 incentive pre-paid with the initial survey mailing, (3) a $25 pre-paid incentive used during nonresponse follow-up, and (4) the standard $50 post response incentive, which serves as the control group for this experiment.