Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Click here to sign up for SAGE Journal Email Alerts today!

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Social Science Computer Review
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Web of Science (8)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Birnholtz, J. P.
Right arrow Articles by Bae, S. J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

The Effects of Cash, Electronic, and Paper Gift Certificates as Respondent Incentives for a Web-Based Survey of Technologically Sophisticated Respondents

Jeremy P. Birnholtz

University of Michigan jbirnhol{at}umich.edu

Daniel B. Horn

University of Michigan danhorn{at}umich.edu

Thomas A. Finholt

University of Michigan finholt{at}umich.edu

Sung Joo Bae

University of Michigan sjbae{at}umich.edu

An experiment was conducted to determine the effectiveness of three invitation and incentivecombinations in a web-based survey. A stratified convenience sample of 434 researchers who were target users of a collaboratory for earthquake engineering was randomly divided into three experimental conditions: (a) a $5 bill sent with the survey instructions via first class mail, (b) a $5 gift certificate code to Amazon.com sent with the survey instructions via first-class mail, or (c) a $5 gift certificate code to Amazon.com sent with the survey instructions via e-mail. Overall response was 43%. Results show that $5 bills led to significantly higher response rates than either gift certificate condition (57% for cash vs. 36% for the two gift certificate conditions, [UNKNOWN]2(1) = 9.3, p < .01). This suggests that cash is a superior incentive for an online survey, even with technologically sophisticated respondents. This may be due to the perceived limitations, delayed payoff, or reduced visibility of online gift certificates.

Key Words: survey incentives • web-based surveys • methods • earthquake engineering • collaboratory

Social Science Computer Review, Vol. 22, No. 3, 355-362 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/0894439304263147
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Social Science Computer ReviewHome page
C. A. Klofstad, S. Boulianne, and D. Basson
Matching the Message to the Medium: Results from an Experiment on Internet Survey Email Contacts
Social Science Computer Review, November 1, 2008; 26(4): 498 - 509.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Social Science Computer ReviewHome page
B. Healey
Drop Downs and Scroll Mice: The Effect of Response Option Format and Input Mechanism Employed on Data Quality in Web Surveys
Social Science Computer Review, February 1, 2007; 25(1): 111 - 128.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Field MethodsHome page
D. Heerwegh
An Investigation of the Effect of Lotteries on Web Survey Response Rates
Field Methods, May 1, 2006; 18(2): 205 - 220.
[Abstract] [PDF]