Abstract
Nonresponse is an important indicator of TSE, and incentives are widely used to increase response rates. This chapter discusses the theories behind incentive effects, discusses the possible forms of incentives and related effects, estimates the optimal amount of incentives, handles different modes of data collection, the relation between incentives and data quality, and ends with best practices and a view toward the future in order to help survey researchers in identifying if, how and how much incentives should be used in their surveys.
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Notes
- 1.
Saunders et al. (2006) base their analysis on mail surveys, but results can easily be extended to other modes of administration, with Web-based surveys having lower variable costs and telephone and face-to-face surveys having higher variable costs than mail surveys.
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Further Readings
Church, A. H. (1993). Estimating the Effect of Incentives on Mail Survey Response Rates: A Meta-Analysis. Public Opinion Quarterly, 57, 62–79.
Dillman, D. A. (1978). Mail and Telephone Surveys: The Total Design Method. New York: Wiley.
Göritz, A. S. (2006). Incentives in Web Surveys: Methodological Issues and a Review. International Journal of Internet Science, 1, 58–70.
Göritz, A. S. & Neumann, B.P. (2011). “The Longitudinal Effects of Incentives on Response Quantity in Online Panels”, retrieved from www.goeritz.net.
Groves, R. M., Cialdini, R. B., & Couper, M. P. (1992). Understanding the Decision to Participate in a Survey. Public Opinion Quarterly, 56, 475–495.
Groves, R. M., Singer, E., & Corning A. D. (2000). ”A Leverage-Saliency Theory of Survey Participation: Description and Illustration”, Public Opinion Quarterly, 64, 299–308.
Ryu, E., Couper, M. P., & Marans, R. W. (2005). Survey Incentives: Cash vs. In-Kind; Face-to-Face vs. Mail; Response Rate vs. Nonresponse Error. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 18, 89–106.
Saunders, J., Jobber, D., & Mitchell, V. (2006). The Optimum Prepaid Monetary Incentives for Mail Surveys. The Journal of the Operational Research Society, 57, 1224–1230.
Singer, E., Van Hoewyk, J., Gebler, N., Raghunathan, T., & McGonagle, K. (1999). The Effect of Incentives in Interviewer-Mediated Surveys. Journal of Official Statistics, 15, 217–230.
Singer, E., Groves, R. M., & Corning, A. D. (1999). Differential Incentives: Beliefs about Practices, Perceptions of Equity, and Effects on Survey Participation. Public Opinion Quarterly, 63, 251–271.
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Toepoel, V. (2012). Effects of Incentives in Surveys. In: Gideon, L. (eds) Handbook of Survey Methodology for the Social Sciences. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3876-2_13
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