Dk. Willimack et al., EFFECTS OF A PREPAID NONMONETARY INCENTIVE ON RESPONSE RATES AND RESPONSE QUALITY IN A FACE-TO-FACE SURVEY, Public opinion quarterly, 59(1), 1995, pp. 78-92
We conducted a randomized experiment on a face-to-face interview surve
y in order to test the effects on response rates of a prepaid nonmonet
ary incentive. Results showed a statistically significant increase in
response rates, mostly through reduction in refusal rates, in the half
sample that received the incentive (a gift-type ballpoint pen) as com
pared with a no incentive control group. The effect appears to be due
to greater cooperation from incentive recipients at the initial visit
by an interviewer. Unexpectedly, the incentive group also showed a sig
nificantly higher rate of sample ineligibility, possibly due to easier
identification of vacant residences or nonexistent addresses. In addi
tion, evidence suggests greater response completeness among responding
incentive recipients early in the interview, with no evidence of incr
eased measurement error due to the incentive.