Alastair,
Go to scholar.google.com and search for survey incentives - you will find many references
-roger
-----Original Message-----
From: Political Methodology Society [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ted Brader
Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2008 5:24 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [POLMETH] Advice on Survey Responses Rates and Compensation
Alastair,
There is a rather robust literature on the effects of compensation on
survey response rates, though I've not read extensively from it. The
survey methods literature usually refers to compensation as
"incentives," so I think that is the key word you'd want to use in
tracking down relevant papers. Journals such as Public Opinion
Quarterly and International Journal of Public Opinion are two likely
sources, though relevant papers can appear in many places.
I can't tell you which particular papers are the best or latest
"word" on levels of compensation, but I know some papers have
addressed varying levels of compensation, along with many other
aspects of incentives (e.g., prepayment vs. promised payment, in-kind
versus cash, guaranteed vs. lottery, and so on). Researchers have
also studied how the effectiveness of incentives interacts with
respondent attributes (e.g., interest in the topic) and other survey
features (e.g., mode). A couple of the relevant papers I'm familiar
are:
Singer et al. 2000 "Experiments with Incentives in Telephone
Surveys." POQ 64(2): 171-88.
Trussell and Lavrakas. 2004. "The Influence of Incremental
Increases in Token Cash Incentives on Mail Survey Response: Is There
an Optimal Amount?" POQ 68(3): 349-67.
Someone else on the list may know whether these or other cites are
the best sources for your particular goals.
Good luck,
Ted
**************************************************
Ted Brader
Associate Professor of Political Science
Center for Political Studies
Institute for Social Research
426 Thompson Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48106
734-936-1777
**************************************************
On Jul 15, 2008, at 4:04 PM, Alastair Smith wrote:
Hi All
I am seeking some advice. Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and I are trying to
build
a data base on political institutions by surveying country experts. We
carried out a very indepth survey for a small of countries in which we
compensated the experts for completing the survey (and it was a lot of
work). We had a high response rate. We are currently trying an internet
based survey with a far smaller number of questions. Unfortunately,
we are
having very few responses. Is there a literature on the relationship
between
level of compensation and response rates? If so we would be very
grateful
for some pointers.
Thanks
Alastair
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