Incentives and participation in a medical survey

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Epidemiology
• Health Behavior Research

Background:

• Questionnaire surveys are vital for population health and disease behavior assessment.
• Declining participation rates in recent surveys pose a challenge to data collection.
• This study investigates the efficacy of incentives in improving survey participation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if financial incentives increase participation in health and disease behavior surveys.
• To compare the effectiveness of different incentive types (lottery scratch cards, prize draw) on survey response rates.
• To assess the impact of telephone reminders on survey participation.

Main Methods:

• A questionnaire on colorectal cancer risk factors was sent to individuals invited for colonoscopy screening and a control group.
• Participants were randomized into three groups: no incentive, lottery scratch cards, or a prize draw for a tablet computer.
• Telephone reminder calls were used for follow-up across all incentive groups.

Main Results:

• Overall response rate was 54.5%; 43.5% for screening-invited and 65.6% for the control group.
• Incentives did not significantly influence participation rates in either the screening-invited or control groups.
• Telephone reminder calls increased participation by 15.3% (14.1% screening-invited, 16.5% control).

Conclusions:

• Financial incentives were ineffective in increasing participation for this medical questionnaire survey.
• Telephone reminder calls and interviews proved effective in boosting survey response rates.
• Further research is needed to compare the cost-effectiveness of telephone reminders against other participation-enhancing methods.