Relevance & research question: Conditional monetary incentives are often seen as a measure to increase initial survey response and reduce attrition in panel surveys. However, they constitute a substantial share of survey costs. To reduce these costs, most panel providers use on demand pay-out options while assuming that not all panelists redeem their incentives. It is common to provide respondents with various redemption options such as cash or coupons.
Our research goal is to investigate in what aspects the respondents who redeem incentives differ from those who do not. For the group of those respondents who redeem their incentives, we analyze respondents’ preferences for redemption options of bank transfer, voucher, and charity donation.
Method & Data: We analyze data from the GESIS Online Panel Pilot study, an offline-recruited probability-based online panel of Internet users. Starting in February 2011, respondents were surveyed every month for 8 months. The amount of incentives was varied experimentally during recruitment, comprising groups of 0, 2, 5 and 10 EUR per survey. Additionally, we have detailed information about patterns of incentive redemption. Panelists could request the payment of their collected incentives at any time such as collecting their money. Participants could mix the options of bank transfer, voucher, and donation.
Results: The analysis indicates that only half of potential incentive recipients use the redemption option. The probability of payment increases with every completed wave and incentive amount. Still among those who completed all 8 waves, about one fifth of panelists never initiate any incentive payment. About 80% of respondents chose only one type of incentive pay-out (among those, 48.75% bank transfer, 36.57% voucher, and 14.68% donation). The other 20% chose more than one incentive option. Further analyses show the type of incentive varies between groups of respondents. For example, men tend to choose the bank transfer option and women have a higher probability of donating the money.
Added value: Our analyses give useful insights into the patterns of incentive redemption and how different respondent groups can be reached by different incentive options.