The use of a prepaid incentive to convert nonresponders on a survey of physicians.

Abstract

Obtaining high response rates on physician surveys provides a difficult challenge to health services researchers. Recent studies have indicated that the use of a prepaid incentive can dramatically increase response rates. The National Survey of Diagnostic Allergy Testing included a controlled experiment in which one group of respondents received a prepaid monetary incentive while a second group did not receive an incentive. Persons assigned to a third group received a prepaid incentive only if they did not respond to the first mailing. The study examined whether or not the decision to provide a monetary incentive can be postponed until the results of the initial mailing are available. This would enable researchers to restrict the use of monetary incentives to surveys where early results indicate response rates may be inadequate. The findings confirmed earlier studies which indicated that the use of a prepaid incentive leads to a large increase in response rate. The study indicated, however, that the value of a prepaid incentive is greatly diminished if the inventive is postponed until the second mailing. The study also indicated the great majority of nonresponders do not cash the incentive checks. The prepaid incentive is, therefore, an effective and relatively inexpensive way of reducing