Web Survey Bibliography
Relevance & research question: Positive effects of incentives in longitudinal surveys for initial participation are well-documented in the literature. Introducing or increasing an incentive amount on panels has also received scholarly attention. However, increased usage of incentives raises concerns about creating respondents' expectations of being paid for survey participation. Our research goal is to answer the question whether respondents form incentive expectations after having participated in several monthly surveys or whether they are motivated by their experience within the panel. The latter would allow saving on incentives in later waves.
Data and method: We analyze data from the offline-recruited probability-based online panel conducted by GESIS. Starting in February 2011, respondents were surveyed every month for 8 months. The panel implemented differential incentives: the amount was varied experimentally during recruitment, comprising groups of 0, 2, 5 and 10 EUR. Additionally, we tested the effect of a one-time 20 EUR bonus payment for responding to 8 questionnaires in some groups. At the end of the 8th online survey we requested an agreement for further participation. Those respondents, who agreed, received an invitation to the 9th survey, for which the incentive was changed to 2 EUR (increase for 0-EUR-group, no change for 2 EUR group and a decrease for 5- and 10-EUR groups).
Results: First results indicate that incentive manipulations do not affect completion rates of the wave where incentive reduction or increase was implemented. The previous response history is one of the most significant predictors for participation in the 9th wave. Measures of survey enjoyment from the previous wave can only partly predict longitudinal response.
Added value: We report reassuring findings that respondents are not affected by possible expectations of a specific incentive. This implication may be of interest if faced with budget constraints, which make increase of incentives not affordable or even force to consider a reduction of future incentives. As large-scale panel surveys generally do not employ incentive manipulations for ethical or logistical reasons, our results can have a practical value in panel management strategies.
GOR Homepage (abstract)
Web survey bibliography - General Online Research Conference (GOR) 2013 (34)
- Respondent Rewards: Money for Nothing?; 2013; Martin, P.
- Pros and cons of virtual interviewers – vote in the discussion about surveytainment; 2013; Póltorak, M., Kowalski, J.
- The fish model: What factors affect participants while filling in an online questionnaire?; 2013; Mohamed, B., Lorenz, A., Pscheida, D.
- Interview Duration in Web Surveys: Integrating Different Levels of Explanation; 2013; Rossmann, J., Gummer, T.
- The monetary value of good questionnaire design; 2013; Tress, F.
- Technical and methodological meta-information on current practices in online research: A full population...; 2013; Burger, C., Stieger, S.
- Using interactive feedback to enhance response quality in Web surveys. The case of open-ended questions...; 2013; Emde, M., Fuchs, M.
- Reducing Response Order Effects in Check-All-That-Apply Questions by Use of Dynamic Tooltip Instructions...; 2013; Kunz, T., Fuchs, M.
- Measuring wages via a volunteer web survey – a cross-national analysis of item nonresponse; 2013; Steinmetz, S., Annmaria, B.
- Does one really know?: Avoiding noninformative answers in a reliable way.; 2013; de Leeuw, E. D., Boevee, A., Hox, J.
- Sensitive Topics in PC and Mobile Web Surveys; 2013; Mavletova, A. M., Couper, M. P.
- Mobile Research Performance: How Mobile Respondents Differ from PC Users Concerning Interview Quality...; 2013; Schmidt, S., Wenzel, O.
- Who responds to website visitor satisfaction surveys?; 2013; Andreadis, I.
- Measuring working conditions in a volunteer web survey; 2013; de Pedraza, P., Villacampa, A.
- Sampling online communities: using triplets as basis for a (semi-) automated hyperlink web crawler.; 2013; Veny, Y.
- Why are you leaving me?? - Personality predictors of answering drop out in an online-study; 2013; Thielsch, M., Nestler, S., Back, M.
- Propensity Score Weighting – Can Personality Adjust for Selectivity?; 2013; Glantz, A., Greszki, R.
- Research Design as an Influencing Factor for Reliability in Online Market Research; 2013; Wengrzik, J., Theuner, G.
- Ethics, privacy and data security in web-based course evaluation; 2013; Salaschek, M., Meese, C., Thielsch, M.
- Seducing the respondent – how to optimise invitations in on-site online research?; 2013; Póltorak, M., Kowalski, J.
- Influence of mobile devices in online surveys; 2013; Maxl, E., Baumgartner, T.
- E-questionnaire in cross-sectional household surveys; 2013; Karaganis, M.
- GESIS Online Panel Pilot: Results from a Probability-Based Online Access Panel; 2013; Kaczmirek, L., Bandilla, W., Schaurer, I., Struminskaya, B., Weyandt, K.
- Online Survey – Research with children on advertising impact; 2013; Funkenweh, V., Busch, J., Amthor, A. L., Boeer, A., Gaedke, J.
- HTML5 and mobile Web surveys: A Web experiment on new input types; 2013; Funke, F.
- Metadata on the demographics of online research: Results from a full-range study of available online...; 2013; Burger, C., Stieger, S.
- How the screen-out influence the dropout of a commercial panel; 2013; Bartoli, B.
- Beyond methodology - some ethical implications of "doing research online"; 2013; Heise, N.
- Innovation in Data Collection: the Responsive Design Approach; 2013; Bianchi, A., Biffignandi, S.
- Break-off and attrition in the GIP amongst technologically experienced and inexperienced participants...; 2013; Blom, A. G., Bossert, D., Clark, V., Funke, F., Gebhard, F., Holthausen, A., Krieger, U., Wachenfeld...
- Nonresponse and Nonresponse Bias in a Probability-Based Internet Panel; 2013; Blom, A. G., Bossert, D., Funke, F., Gebhard, F., Holthausen, A., Krieger, U.
- Rewards - Money for Nothing?; 2013; Cape, P. J., Martin, P.
- Effects of incentive reduction after a series of higher incentive waves in a probability-based online...; 2013; Struminskaya, B., Kaczmirek, L., Schaurer, I., Bandilla, W.
- Timing of Nonparticipation in an Online Panel: The effect of incentive strategies; 2013; Douhou, S., Scherpenzeel, A.