Incentives for college student participation in web-based substance use surveys

Area of Science:

• Social Sciences
• Psychology
• Public Health

Background:

• Effective survey methodologies are crucial for accurate college student substance use research.
• Optimizing incentive structures can enhance participation and data quality.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the impact of two incentive conditions on survey response rates, sample composition, data quality, and cost-efficiency.
• To investigate the effects of incentive structures in a college student substance use survey.

Main Methods:

• Randomly selected college students (N=3000) were assigned to either a $10 pre-incentive only or a $2 pre-incentive plus $10 promised incentive condition.
• Registrar data analyzed response rates and sample composition; web-based data collection assessed substantive findings.

Main Results:

• The combined pre-incentive and promised incentive condition yielded higher completion rates and fewer partial responses.
• Men showed higher response rates in the dual incentive condition compared to the pre-incentive only condition.
• No significant differences in substantive data were found across incentive conditions, but the dual incentive approach was more cost-efficient.

Conclusions:

• Altering incentive structures can improve response rates and sample representativeness in college student surveys.
• The dual incentive strategy ($2 pre-incentive + $10 promised) offers a cost-efficient method for enhancing survey participation and data collection in this population.