Can Lottery Incentives Boost Web Survey Response Rates? Findings from Four Experiments

Research in Higher Education

Volumn 52, Issue 5, 2011, Pages 537-553

  Laguilles, Jerold S ^a   Williams, Elizabeth A ^b   Saunders, Daniel B ^b  

^a SPRINGFIELD COLLEGE   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS   (United States)

Author keywords

Leverage salience theory; Lottery incentives; Response rates; Survey research; Web survey

Indexed keywords

EID: 79959634366     PISSN: 03610365     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s11162-010-9203-2     Document Type: Article

References (38)

1. Bosnjak, M., & Tuten, T. L. (2003). Prepaid and promised incentives in web surveys: An experiment. Social Science Computer Review, 21(2), 208-217.
2. Church, A. H. (1993). Estimating the effect of incentives on mail survey response rates: A meta-analysis. Public Opinion Quarterly, 57, 62-79.
3. Cobanoglu, C., & Cobanoglu, N. (2003). The effect of incentives in web surveys: Application and ethical considerations. International Journal of Market Research, 45(4), 475-488.
4. Curtain, R., Presser, S., & Singer, E. (2000). The effects of response rate changes on the index of consumer sentiment. Public Opinion Quarterly, 64, 413-428.
5. Deutskens, E., Ruyter, K. D., Wetzels, M., & Oosterveld, P. (2004). Response rate and response quality of Internet-based surveys: An experimental study. Marketing Letters, 15(1), 21-36.
6. Dey, E. L. (1997). Working with low survey response rates: The efficacy of weighting adjustments. Research in Higher Education, 38(2), 215-227.
7. Dillman, D. A. (1983). Mail and other self-administered questionnaires. In P. H. Rossi, J. D. Wright, & A. B. Anderson (Eds.), Handbook of survey research (pp. 359-378). San Diego: Academic Press, Inc.
8. Dillman, D. A. (2007). Mail and internet surveys: The tailored design method. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.
9. Fowler, F. J., Jr. (2009). Survey research methods 4th edition: Applied social research methods series (#1). Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
10. Goritz, Anja. S. (2006). Incentives in web studies: Methodological issues and a review. International Journal of Internet Science, 1(1), 58-70.
11. Goritz, A. S., & Wolff, H.-G. (2007). Lotteries as incentives in longitudinal web studies. Social Science Computer Review, 25(1), 99-110.
12. Groves, R. M. (1989). Survey errors and survey costs. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
13. Groves, R. M. (2006). Non-response rates and non-response bias in household surveys. Public Opinion Quarterly, 70(5), 646-675.
14. Groves, R. M., & Peytcheva, E. (2008). The impact of non-response rates on non-response bias; A meta-analysis. Public Opinion Quarterly, 72(2), 167-189.
15. 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.
16. Groves, R. M., Presser, S., & Dipko, S. (2004). The role of topic interest in survey participation decisions. Public Opinion Quarterly, 68(1), 2-31.
17. Heerwegh, D. (2006). An investigation of the effects of lotteries on web survey response rates. Field Methods, 18(2), 205-220.
18. Kolek, E. A. (2006). Examining empirical articles in the Journal of College Student Development: A pilot study. Unpublished Manuscript, University of Massachusetts Amherst.
19. Loosveldt, G., & Storms, V. (2008). Measuring public opinions about surveys. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 20(1), 74-89.
20. Marcus, B., Bosnjak, M., Lindner, S., Pilischenko, S., & Schutz, A. (2007). Compensating for low topic interest and long surveys: A field experiment on non-response in web surveys. Social Science Computer Review, 25, 372-383.
21. National Study of Living-Learning Programs. (2007, July). University of Massachusetts Amherst Customized Report.
22. National Survey of Student Engagement. (2007). NSSE 2007 Annual report website. http://nsse. iub. edu/NSSE_2007_Annual_Report/. Accessed 22 March 2009.
23. National Survey of Student Engagement. (2008). NSSE 2008 Annual Report Website. Retrieved March 22, 2009 from http://nsse. iub. edu/NSSE_2008_Results/. Accessed 22 March 2009.
24. National Survey of Student Engagement. (2009). NSSE 2009 Annual Report Website. Retrieved May 24, 2010 from http://nsse. iub. edu/NSSE_2009_Results/.
25. Pike, G. R. (2008). Using weighting adjustments to compensate for survey non-response. Research in Higher Education, 49, 153-171.
26. Porter, S. R. (2004). Raising response rates: What works? In S. R. Porter (Ed.), Overcoming survey research problems (pp. 5-22). Jossey-Bass: San Francisco.
27. Porter, S. R., & Whitcomb, M. E. (2003). The impact of lottery incentives on student survey response rates. Research in Higher Education, 44(4), 389-407.
28. Porter, S. R., & Whitcomb, M. E. (2005). Non-response in student surveys: The role of demographics, engagement and personality. Research in Higher Education, 46(2), 127-152.
29. Rossi, P., Henry, W., James, D., & Anderson, A. B. (1983). Sample surveys: History, current practice, and future prospects. In P. H. Rossi, J. D. Wright, & A. B. Anderson (Eds.), Handbook of survey research (pp. 1-20). San Diego: Academic Press.
30. Sieber, J. E. (2001). Summary of human subjects protection issues related to large sample surveys. US Department of Justice: Bureau of Justice Statistics. http://bjs. ojp. usdoj. gov/content/pub/pdf/shspirls. pdf. Accessed 12 Dec 2009.
31. Singer, E. (2006). Introduction: Non-response bias in household surveys. Public Opinion Quarterly, 70(5), 637-645.
32. Singer, E., van Hoewyk, J., & Maher, M. P. (2000). Experiments with incentives in telephone surveys. Public Opinion Quarterly, 64, 171-188.
33. Tourangeau, R. (2004). Survey research and societal change. Annual Review of Psychology, 55, 775-801.
34. Tourangeau, R., Groves, R. M., & Redline, C. D. (2010). Sensitive topics and reluctant respondents: Demonstrating a link between non-response bias and measurement error. Public Opinion Quarterly Advance Access published March 16, 2010.
35. 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.
36. Umbach, P. D. (2004). Web surveys: Best practices. In S. R. Porter (Ed.), Overcoming survey research problems (pp. 23-38). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
37. Williams, E. A., Laguilles, J. S., Kolek, E., & Fleenor, T. J. (2008, November). Student survey savvy: SAREO shares strategies. Workshare presented at the annual meeting of the North East Association for Institutional Research, Providence, RI.
38. US Census Bureau. (2007). Table 1120. Internet access and usage: 2007. http://www. census. gov/compendia/statab/cats/information_communications/internet_publishing_and_broadcasting_and_internet_usage. html. Accessed 16 Oct 2009.