Examining the gender effects of different incentive amounts in a web survey

Abstract

Researchers are struggling to determine effective methods to improve response rates to web surveys. This study presents the results of an experiment that varied the disbursement of an incentive in a web survey. Participants were randomly assigned to receive either a $5 or a $10 prepaid incentive. In line with the social exchange theory of survey participation, no significant differences were found in response rate between the two conditions. However, the incentive amount interacted with gender. Specifically, women were more likely to respond to the survey when provided with a $5 incentive compared to a $10 incentive.