Survey respondent incentives - the lowdown

One of the methods for increasing the participation rate is to offer potential respondents an incentive of some kind as a motivation or compensation for their time and effort.

Some studies won't require a respondent incentive, while others won't succeed without one.

If an incentive is needed, it's important to realise that they're not all created equal. There’s a plethora of incentive types, conditions and other factors that can all affect the response rate of your survey.

And beware: some incentives can actually reduce participation. Other incentives will increase the resonse rate with certain kinds of respondents, but definitely with not others, meaning you might be increasing research costs with no appreciable impact on the response rate.

Choosing the right incentive(s) for your research objectives and respondent type is essential to completing a robust and valid research project, without spending more than is necessary.

Kinds of incentives

There are many kinds of survey respondent incentive types, though the most common are a lottery draw entry or lottery ticket, cash, gift card, a discount or redemption coupon, or access to valuable information.

A key difference between lottery draw entries and other incentives is their high value coupled with low chance of redemption (versus low value/high chance of the others). Draw entries will appeal more to particular kinds of respondents.

Another important factor is whether a single, fixed incentive is offered, or each participant is permitted to choose their preferred incentive from alternatives.

Incentive recipient

Another key factor is to whom the incentive is given. Is it given to:

• All respondents?
• Only certain respondents, such as those who didn’t respond to the first or second invitation?
• Another party, such as an amount paid to a charity?
   

Other incentive conditions

Other incentive conditions can also affect the response rate, including:

• Unconditional offer: for example, a Scratchie ticket provided with the request to participate, which creates a social obligation, on scratching, to take the questionnaire.
• Conditional offer: for example, the incentive given only for a completed, or at least commenced, questionnaire.
• Time-limited: for example, a date-limited gift, discount or rebate coupon.
   

Incentive ethics

If an incentive is offered, both the incentive itself and the method of its administration must be ethical.

Incentives must not be used intentionally or unintentionally to bias the research findings: they must not be conditioned on the favourability or otherwise of responses.

Nor should the incentive be directly tied to the nature of the research, for example by offering free product in exchange for opinions about it. To do so would be to attract respondents most interested in the product category or brand, and who most want one, significantly biasing towards positive or heavy-user results.^*

Administration of incentives (delivering the reward) must not facilitate or permit identification of the responses of specific respondents. So, for example, incentive contact or delivery details must not appear alongside or to be attributable to any other questionnaire responses.

Conclusion

ResearchSquirrel can advise you on the necessity or otherwise, and selection of, the most effective incentive plan for your research project, so that high-quality participation rates are increased for the minimum expenditure: maximising your ROI.

If we recommend any incentives for your project, they will be outlined in your Research Plan.

-----

* Of course, if the research design stipulates that the respondent must have the product in order to evaluate it, it makes sense to supply it, not as an incentive but rather with a clear research design to minimise potential sampling bias.

 

Keywords: 

Bias

|

Market research

|

Poll / survey

|

Research design

|

Respondent recruitment

|

Sampling

• Log in or register to post comments