Web Survey Bibliography
Research question: How to improve data quality and completion rates in online surveys? Design: We conducted an online experiment in which 1,750 students were randomly assigned to one out of 4 treatments and a control group. Group 1 received a postal prenotification of the survey along with a prepaid voucher. Group 2 received a postal prenotification and a postpaid voucher. Group 3 received a postal prenotification and a prepaid 5 EUR bank note. Group 4 solely received a postal prenotification. Group 5 was the control group and was invited via e-mail. Dependent measures were completion rate, item-nonresponse, straightlining and willingness to self-report sensitive information. Results: Logit models show Group 3 (prenotification & bank note) to significantly outperform all other groups with respect to completion. Treatment had no effect on straightlining. The overall amount of straightlining, however, was low. Regression models for count data revealed item-nonresponse to be lowest in Group 3 (prenotification & bank note). Most groups differed from one another in item-nonresponse, whereby all treatment groups were superior to the control group. Finally, treatment had no significant effect on respondents’ willingness to disclose sensitive information.
Implications of the study: This is one of the first experiments that tests the effect of a prepaid cash incentive on participation in an online study. We are able to show that including a bank note roughly doubles completion and also enhances the overall data quality. We therefore advocate the use of prepaid cash incentives. As there were no differences in the willingness to self-report sensitive information, the different treatments seem to be neutral to respondents’ perceptions of anonymity.
ESRA Homepage (abstract)
GOR Homepage (abstract) / (presentation)
Web survey bibliography - Goeritz, A. (24)
- Response Effects of Prenotification, Prepaid Cash, Prepaid Vouchers, and Postpaid Vouchers: An Experimental...; 2015; van Veen, F.; Goeritz, A.; Sattler, S.
- Determinants of the starting rate and the completion rate in online panel studies; 2014; Goeritz, A.
- Online panel research: History, concepts, applications and a look at the future; 2014; Callegaro, M., Baker, R., Bethlehem, J., Goeritz, A., Krosnick, J. A., Lavrakas, P. J.
- The Use of Paradata to Predict Future Cooperation in a Panel Study; 2014; Funke, F., Goeritz, A.
- Incentive effects; 2013; Goeritz, A.
- How Do Lotteries and Study Results Influence Response Behavior in Online Panels?; 2013; Goeritz, A., Luthe, S. C.
- Reminders in Web-Based Data Collection: Increasing Response at the Price of Retention?; 2012; Goeritz, A., Crutzen, R.
- Does social desirability compromise self-reports of physical activity in web-based research?; 2011; Crutzen, R., Goeritz, A.
- Handle with Care: The Impact of Using Java Applets in Web-Based Studies on Dropout and Sample Composition...; 2011; Stieger, S., Goeritz, A., Voracek, M.
- Web panels: Replacement technology for market research; 2010; Goeritz, A.
- Social desirability and self-reported health risk behaviors in web-based research: three longitudinal...; 2010; Crutzen, R., Goeritz, A.
- The Effects of Different Incentives on Data Quantity and Data Quality in Online Panels; 2010; Singh, R. K., Voggeser, B. J., Goeritz, A.
- The longitudinal effect of incentives on participation and data quality in online panels; 2010; Neumann, B. P., Goeritz, A.
- The influence of the field time on data quality in list-based Web surveys; 2009; Goeritz, A., Stieger, S.
- Using online panels to conduct Web-based research: What works and what doesn’t; 2009; Goeritz, A.
- Distortion of demographics through technically induced dropout in restricted online surveys; 2009; Voracek, M., Stieger, S., Goeritz, A.
- Payments via Paypal as an Incentive in Online Panels; 2009; Goeritz, A., Wolff, H.-G., Goldstein, D. G.
- Using the World-Wide Web to obtain large-scale word norms: 190,212 ratings on a set of 2,654 German...; 2009; Lahl, O., Goeritz, A., Pietrowsky, R., Rosenberg, J.
- Individual payments as a longer-term incentive in online panels ; 2008; Goeritz, A., Wolff, H.-G., Goldstein, D. G.
- The effects of incentives in internet panels: a review; 2008; Goeritz, A.
- Cash Lotteries as Incentives in Online Panels; 2006; Goeritz, A.
- Meta-Analyses on Contingent versus Unconditional Incentives; 2005; Goeritz, A.
- Recruitment for online access panels; 2004; Goeritz, A.
- The impact of material incentives on response quantity, response quality, sample composition, survey...; 2004; Goeritz, A.