© Maja Rynko Artykuł udostępniony na licencji CC BY-SA 4.0
Respondent incentives are an element of survey methodology that are shown to impact response rates and selected aspects of survey quality. They are becoming more and more commonly used to counteract the growing reluctance of individuals to respond to surveys. There are different types of incentives, including monetary and non-monetary and conditional or unconditional ones (provided only if a person takes part in the survey or regardless of the person’s participation, respectively). The monetary value of the incentive may also differ depending on the survey’s budget, and the individual needs and expectations of a respondent. It was proven that different incentives have various effects, but there is no single and optimal recommendation as to which type of incentive should be used. The results depend not only on the incentives themselves, but also on such survey characteristics as the topic, survey mode, target population, the length of the survey or the time when the fieldwork was conducted. The aim of the article is to review the general state of knowledge about the above-mentioned aspects concerning the use of incentives in social surveys, both in cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. Special attention is paid to the effects of incentives on the response rate, the quality of answers and the sample composition. Additionally, ethical considerations and Polish experiences in the use of incentives are discussed. This article may help survey methodologists in deciding on the optimal type and way of using respondent incentives.
social surveys, survey methodology, respondent incentives, response rates, data quality, data collection
C80, C81, C83, C93
Blohm, M., & Koch, A. (2013). Respondent Incentives in a National Face-to-Face Survey: Effects on Outcome Rates, Sample Composition and Fieldwork Efforts. Methods, Data, Analyses, 7(1), 89–122. https://doi.org/10.12758/mda.2013.004.
Börsch-Supan, A., Krieger, U., & Schröder, M. (2013). Respondent incentives, interviewer training and survey participation (SHARE Working Paper Series, No 12). https://share-eric.eu/fileadmin/user_upload/SHARE_Working_Paper/WP_Series_12_2013.pdf.
Brick, J. M., Montaquila, J., Hagedorn, M. C., Roth, S. B., & Chapman, C. (2005). Implications for RDD Design from an Incentive Experiment. Journal of Official Statistics, 21(4), 571–589. https://www.scb.se/contentassets/ca21efb41fee47d293bbee5bf7be7fb3/implications-for-rdd-design-from-an-incentive-experiment.pdf.
Cantor, D., O’Hare, B. C., & O’Connor, K. S. (2007). The Use of Monetary Incentives to Reduce Nonresponse in Random Digit Dial Telephone Surveys. In J. M. Lepkowski, C. Tucker, J. M. Brick, E. D. de Leeuw, L. Japec, P. J. Lavrakas, M. W. Link, & R. L. Sangster (Eds.), Advances in Telephone Survey Methodology (pp. 471–498). John Wiley & Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470173404.ch22.
Castiglioni, L., Pforr, K., & Krieger, U. (2008). The Effect of Incentives on Response Rates and Panel Attrition: Results of a Controlled Experiment. Survey Research Methods, 2(3), 151–158. https://doi.org/10.18148/srm/2008.v2i3.599.
Church, A. H. (1993). Estimating the effect of incentives on mail survey response rates: a meta-analysis. Public Opinion Quarterly, 57(1), 62–79. https://doi.org/10.1086/269355.
Edwards, P., Roberts, I., Clarke, M., DiGuiseppi, C., Pratap, S., Wentz, R., & Kwan, I. (2002). Increasing response rates to postal questionnaires: systematic review. BMJ, 324, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.324.7347.1183.
Eurostat. (2018). Quality report of the second wave of the European Health Interview survey. Publications Office of the European Union. https://doi.org/10.2785/43982.
Eurostat. (2022). Quality report of the third wave of the European Health Interview survey. Publications Office of the European Union. https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2785/081621.
Feskens, R., Hox, J., Schmeets, H., & Wetzels, W. (2008). Incentives and ethnic minorities: Results of a controlled randomized experiment in the Netherlands. Survey Research Methods, 2(3), 159–165. https://doi.org/10.18148/srm/2008.v2i3.71.
Fowler, F. J. (2008). Survey Research Methods (4th edition). SAGE Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452230184.
Fricker, S., & Tourangeau, R. (2010). Examining the Relationship Between Nonresponse Propensity and Data Quality in Two National Household Surveys. Public Opinion Quarterly, 74(5), 934–955. https://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfq064.
Główny Urząd Statystyczny. (2009). Aktywność ekonomiczna ludności Polski. IV kwartał 2008 r. https://stat.gov.pl/cps/rde/xbcr/gus/aktywnosc_ekonomiczna_ludnosci_Polski_1_4kw_2008.zip.
Główny Urząd Statystyczny. (2019). Aktywność ekonomiczna ludności Polski. IV kwartał 2018 r. https://stat.gov.pl/download/gfx/portalinformacyjny/pl/defaultaktualnosci/5475/4/32/1/aktywnosc_ekonomiczna_ludnosci_polski_iv_kwartal_2018.pdf.
Goldenberg, K. L., McGrath, D., & Tan, L. (2009). The Effects of Incentives on the Consumer Expenditure Interview Survey. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/osmr/research-papers/2009/st090100.htm.
Groves, R. M., Cialdini, R. B., & Couper, M. P. (1992). Understanding the decision to participate in a survey. Public Opinion Quarterly, 56(4), 475–495. https://doi.org/10.1086/269338.
Groves, R. M., Singer, E., & Corning, A. (2000). Leverage-Saliency Theory of Survey Participation: Description and an Illustration. Public Opinion Quarterly, 64(3), 299–308. https://doi.org/10.1086/317990.
Instytut Badań Edukacyjnych. (2013). Kulisy badania 6- i 7-latków. Retrieved March 10, 2019, from http://www.ibe.edu.pl/pl/?option=com_content&view=article&id=187:yci..
Jäckle, A., & Lynn, P. (2008). Respondent incentives in a multi-mode panel survey: Cumulative effects on nonresponse and bias. Survey Methodology, 34(1), 105–117. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/pub/12-001-x/2008001/article/10607-eng.pdf?st=2rmKi0bi.
Krosnick, J. A. (1991). Response strategies for coping with the cognitive demands of attitude measures in surveys. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 5(3), 213–236. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.2350050305.
Laurie, H., & Lynn, P. (2009). The Use of Respondent Incentives on Longitudinal Surveys. In P. Lynn (Ed.), Methodology of Longitudinal Surveys (pp. 205–233). John Wiley & Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470743874.ch12.
de Leeuw, E. D., & Hox, J. (2012). Self-Administered Questionnaires. In E. D. de Leeuw, J. Hox & D. Dillman (Eds.), International Handbook of Survey Methodology (pp. 239–263). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203843123.
Lengacher, J. E., Sullivan, C. M., Couper, M. P., & Groves, R. M. (1995). Once reluctant, always reluctant? Effects of differential incentives on later survey participation in a longitudinal study. In Proceedings of Survey Research Methods Section of the American Statistical Association (pp. 1029–1034). http://www.asasrms.org/Proceedings/papers/1995_179.pdf.
Martin, E., Abreau, D., & Winters, F. (2001). Money and motive: effects of incentives on panel attrition in the survey of income and program participation. Journal of Official Statistics, 17(2), 267–284.
Martin, S., Helmschrott, S., & Rammstedt, B. (2014). The Use of Respondent Incentives in PIAAC: The Field Test Experiment in Germany. Methods, Data, Analyses, 8(2), 223–242. https://doi.org/10.12758/mda.2014.009.
Medway, R. L., & Tourangeau, R. (2015). Response Quality in Telephone Surveys: Do Prepaid Cash Incentives Make a Difference?. Public Opinion Quarterly, 79(2), 524–543. https://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfv011.
National Center for Health Statistics. (2017). Survey Description, National Health Interview Survey 2016. Retrieved September 2024, from https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis/data-questionnaires-documentation.htm.
National Center for Health Statistics. (2023). National Health Interview Survey 2022. Survey Description. https://ftp.cdc.gov/pub/Health_Statistics/NCHS/Dataset_Documentation/NHIS/2022/srvydesc-508.pdf.
National Opinion Research Center. (2019). GSS 1972–2018 Cross-Section Codebook Sections. Appendix A – Sampling Design and Weighting. https://gss.norc.org/documents/codebook/GSS_Codebook_AppendixA.pdf.
National Opinion Research Center. (2022). The General Social Survey. https://gss.norc.org/Documents/codebook/GSS%202022%20Codebook.pdf.
Norwegian Centre for Research Data. (2018a). ESS2 – 2004 Documentation Report (edition 3.7). https://ess-search.nsd.no/en/study/c7f5d299-6bb6-4d4b-b9b5-f52b3026a9a4.
Norwegian Centre for Research Data. (2018b). ESS5 – 2010 Documentation Report (edition 4.2). https://ess.sikt.no/en/study/fd0dc7b6-3d5a-42d4-ad46-7a78e44e3963/143.
Norwegian Centre for Research Data. (2018c). ESS7 – 2014 Documentation Report (edition 3.2). https://ess.sikt.no/en/study/ccd56840-e949-4320-945a-927c49e1dc4f/118.
Norwegian Centre for Research Data. (2020). ESS8 – 2016 Documentation Report (edition 2.2). https://ess.sikt.no/en/study/f8e11f55-0c14-4ab3-abde-96d3f14d3c76/162.
Norwegian Centre for Research Data. (2021). ESS9 – 2018 Documentation Report (edition 3.1). https://ess-search.nsd.no/en/study/bdc7c350-1029-4cb3-9d5e-53f668b8fa74.
Petrolia, D. R., & Bhattacharjee, S. (2009). Revisiting Incentive Effects: Evidence from a Random-Sample Mail Survey on Consumer Preferences for Fuel Ethanol. Public Opinion Quarterly, 73(3), 537–550, https://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfp038.
Pforr, K., Blohm, M., Blom, A. G., Erdel, B., Felderer, B., Frässdorf, M., Hajek, K., Helmschrott, S., Kleinert, C., Koch, A., Krieger, U., Kroh, M., Martin, S., Sassenroth, D., Schmiedeberg, C., Trüdinger, E. M., & Rammstedt, B. (2015). Are Incentive Effects on Response Rates and Nonresponse Bias in Large-scale, Face-to-face Surveys Generalizable to Germany? Evidence from Ten Experiments. Public Opinion Quarterly, 79(3), 740–768. https://doi.org/10.1093 /poq/nfv014 .
Ryu, E., Couper, M. P., & Marans, R. W. (2006). Survey Incentives: Cash vs. In-Kind; Face-to-Face vs. Mail; Response Rate vs. Nonresponse Error. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 18(1), 89–106. https://doi.org/10.1093/ijpor/edh089.
Scherpenzeel, A., & Toepoel, V. (2012). Recruiting a probability sample for an online panel: Effects of contact mode, incentives, and information. Public Opinion Quarterly, 76(3), 470–490. https://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfs037.
Shettle, C., & Mooney, G. (1999). Monetary Incentives in U.S. Government Surveys. Journal of Official Statistics, 15(2), 231–250.
Sikt. (2023). ESS10 Headline Indicators (edition 3.0). https://ess.sikt.no/en/study/172ac431-2a06-41df-9dab-c1fd8f3877e7/440.
Singer, E. (2012). Ethical Issues in Surveys. In E. D. de Leeuw, J. J. Hox & D. A. Dillman (Eds.), International Handbook of Survey Methodology (pp. 78–96). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203843123.
Singer, E. (2018). Survey incentives. In D. L. Vannette & J. A. Krosnick (Eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Survey Research (pp. 405–415). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54395-6_50.
Singer, E., Groves, R. M., & Corning, A. D. (2001). Differential incentives: Beliefs about practices, perceptions of equity, and effects on survey participation. Public Opinion Quarterly, 63(2), 251–260. https://doi.org/10.1086/297714.
Singer, E., Van Hoewyk, J., Gebler, N., Raghunathan, T., & McGonagle, K. (1999). The Effect of Incentives on Response Rates in Interviewer-Mediated Surveys. Journal of Official Statistics, 15(2), 217–230. https://www.scb.se/contentassets/ff271eeeca694f47ae99b942de61df83/the-effect -of-incentives-on-response-rates-in-interviewer-mediated-surveys.pdf .
Singer, E., Van Hoewyk, J., & Maher, M. P. (2000). Experiments with Incentives in Telephone Surveys. Public Opinion Quarterly, 64(2), 171–188. https://doi.org/10.1086/317761.
Singer, E., & Ye, C. (2013). The Use and Effects of Incentives in Surveys. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 645(1), 112–141. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716212458082.
Stoop, I., Billiet, J., Koch, A., & Fitzgerald, R. (2010). Improving Survey Response: Lessons learned from the European Social Survey. John Wiley & Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470688335.
Sztabiński, P. B. (1995). Dlaczego respondenci zgadzają się na wywiad? Problemy aranżacji wywiadu w badaniach surveyowych. Ask: Research & Methods, 2(1), 21–35. https://kb.osu.edu/handle/1811/69463.
Sztabiński, P. B. (2006). Dlaczego respondenci uczestniczą lub nie uczestniczą w badaniach? Porównanie 1994–2004. Ask: Research & Methods, 15(1), 7–28. https://kb.osu.edu/handle/1811/69543.
Sztabiński, P. B., Sztabiński, F., & Przybysz, D. (2012). What do respondents and non-respondents think of incentives and how do they react to them? The ESS Experience in Poland. Ask: Research & Methods, 21(1), 87–122. https://kb.osu.edu/handle/1811/69582.
Trussell, N., & Lavrakas, P. J. (2004). The Influence of Incremental Increases in Token Cash Incentives on Mail Survey Response: Is There an Optimal Amount?. Public Opinion Quarterly, 68(3), 349–367. https://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfh022.
Warriner, K., Goyder, J., Gjertsen, H., Hohner, P., & McSpurren, K. (1996). Charities, no; lotteries, no; cash, yes: Main effects and interactions in a Canadian incentives experiment. Public Opinion Quarterly, 60(4), 542–562. https://doi.org/10.1086/297772.
Zagorsky, J. L., & Rhoton, P. (2008). The Effects of Promised Monetary Incentives on Attrition in a Long-Term Panel Survey. Public Opinion Quarterly, 72(3), 502–513. https://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfn025.
