The effect of incentive type on data quality and quantity in an experience sampling study in a student population

As the experience sampling method (ESM) becomes a popular tool for capturing psychological phenomena, understanding how different incentives affect participant behavior and experiences is crucial for designing studies that maximize data quality and quantity. Our aim was to investigate the effects of three incentive types (a fixed payment, a fixed payment with personalized feedback, and payment per beep) on data quantity, data quality (e.g., careless responding), and participant experiences (e.g., burden). Students (N = 192, 64 per condition) completed 14 days of ESM with nine daily beeps. We used analyses of variance and (multilevel) linear and logistic regression analyses to analyze the effect of incentive type on retrospective outcomes and (temporal changes in) momentary outcomes. Incremental payment increased compliance rates as compared to the other conditions, but there were no other effects on the outcomes of interest. We therefore recommend using payment per beep to boost data quantity in motivated (student) samples.