Survey Incentives in Medical Education: What Do Students Say Will Entice Them to Participate in Surveys?

Surveys are the most commonly utilized tool for collecting data from college students. In recent years, the increasing number of surveys administered to students has resulted in low response rates due to survey fatigue. The use of incentives, especially those of a lottery-based nature, has become a popular strategy for improving response rates. At present, however, there is little research on the effectiveness of incentives for surveys involving students. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate what types of incentives are most likely to be effective for boosting response rates among students in medical and health professions programs, and what odds of winning a prize are likely to be most effective given lottery-based scenarios. Results indicate two major findings. First, lottery-based incentives, including those that offer a prize of considerable value (e.g., $250 cash and iPad) were reported to be much less attractive to students than guaranteed prizes, including those of relatively little value (e.g., $5 gift card). Second, students reported they were highly motivated to participate if the topic was of interest, they knew their feedback would make a difference, be taken seriously, be sincerely appreciated by the researcher(s), and if the topic appealed to their sense of professional responsibility/civic duty.