The effect of conditional incentives in an email–web valuation survey of recreational anglers
Year: 2025
Type: article
Study design: Clinical Trial
Abstract: Web surveys often suffer from low response rates when invitations are sent via email. We conducted an experiment testing the effects of a $5 Starbucks gift card incentive on response rates and survey results from an email–web survey of Gulf of Mexico recreational anglers. Half the sample was randomly assigned to be offered the incentive for completion of the survey. Despite this, response rates were nearly identical between the incentivized (12 percent) and non-incentivized (13 percent) groups. Respondent demographics, fishing trip characteristics, and econometric estimates were highly consistent across groups. Statistical tests could not reject the null of no difference between the incentive treatments. Our results suggest foregoing small conditional non-monetary incentives can be cost-effective for this type of specialized recreation survey using an email protocol. However, generalizability to other populations, incentives, and protocols requires further research. The non-monetary incentive did not meaningfully impact response rates or estimates in this context.
Source: Q Open
Institutions: NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service Southeast Fisheries Science Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service Office of Science and Technology, NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service Southeast Regional Office
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,882
OpenAlex ID: W4406123518