The DOI matches its Crossref record; 37 of the 37 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Estimating the Effect of Incentives on Mail Survey Response Rates: A Meta-Analysis
Abstract
This article reports the results of a meta-analysis of 38 experimental and quasi-experimental studies that implemented some form of mail survey incentive in order to increase response rates. A total of 74 observations or cases were classified into one of four types of incentive groups: those using prepaid monetary or nonmonetary rewards included with the initial survey mailing and those using monetary or nonmonetary rewards as conditional upon the return of the survey. Results were generated using an analysis of variance approach. The overall effect size across the 74 observations was reported as low to moderate at d = .241. When compared across incentive types, only those surveys that included rewards (both monetary and nonmonetary) in the initial mailing yielded statistically significant estimates of effect size (d = .347, d = .136). The average increase in response rates over control conditions for these types of incentives was 19.1 percent and 7.9 percent, respectively. There was no evidence of any impact for those incentive types offering rewards contingent upon the return of the survey.
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In the citing paper
“The result of this study has also been confirmed by the meta-analysis of Church (1993).”
From Psychological foundations of incentives (2002) · cites this paper as Church 1993
In the citing paper
“Church reports that if the request for the completion and return of a survey is associated with an unconditional advance payment the response rate increases by 19 percentage points relative to surveys without concomitant payment.”
From Psychological foundations of incentives (2002) · cites this paper as Church 1993
In the citing paper
“Moreover, when the payment of money is made contingent upon completion of the survey the response rate does not rise relative to the case where no payment is offered.”
From Psychological foundations of incentives (2002) · cites this paper as Church 1993
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One Hundred Years of Social Psychology Quantitatively Described
Richard, F. D., Bond, C. F., & Stokes-Zoota, J. J. (2003) · Review of General Psychology · doi:10.1037/1089-2680.7.4.331 · Cited by 1,558
Response rates to mail surveys published in medical journals
Asch, D. A., Jedrziewski, M. K., & Christakis, N. A. (1997) · Journal of Clinical Epidemiology · doi:10.1016/s0895-4356(97)00126-1 · Cited by 2,110
Response rates of online surveys in published research: A meta-analysis
Wu, M.-J., Zhao, K., & Fils-Aime, F. (2022) · Computers in Human Behavior Reports · doi:10.1016/j.chbr.2022.100206 · Cited by 1,135
Psychological foundations of incentives
Fehr, E., & Falk, A. (2002) · European Economic Review · doi:10.1016/s0014-2921(01)00208-2 · Cited by 1,240
Comparing Response Rates from Web and Mail Surveys: A Meta-Analysis
Shih, T.-H., & Fan, X. (2008) · Field Methods · doi:10.1177/1525822x08317085 · Cited by 1,159
Metadata
- Authors
- Church, A. H.
- Affiliations
- Columbia University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Church, Allan H.
- ORCID
- Church, Allan H.
- Venue
- Public Opinion Quarterly
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 1993
- Volume
- 57
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 62
- ISSN
- 0033-362X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2006867740
- Cited by
- 705
- References
- 37
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 23 · 2022: 22 · 2021: 26 · 2020: 24 · 2019: 25 · 2018: 18 · 2017: 27 · 2016: 32 · 2015: 37 · 2014: 34 · 2013: 39 · 2012: 37
- FWCI
- 23.80
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Public Opinion Quarterly (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Survey Methodology and Nonresponse
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Survey Sampling and Estimation Techniques
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Census and Population Estimation
- Keywords
- mail survey response rates, survey incentives, monetary rewards, contingent reward, survey nonresponse
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