The effect of a monetary incentive in increasing the return rate of a survey to family physicians

The barrage of requests family physicians receive to complete mail surveys often results in physicians who are unwilling, or unable due to time constraints to complete each survey they receive. Thus, to obtain an acceptable response rate, state-of-the-art mail survey techniques must be used. This article reports the results of the use of a modest ($1) monetary incentive to increase a survey response rate. A random sample of 600 American Academy of Family Physicians members were mailed a survey of firearm safety counseling; half received a $1 incentive whereas the remaining half served as a control group. The response rate in the incentive group was 63% compared to 45% in the control group [chi(2) (1, N = 251) = 16.0, p < .001]. Further the use of the incentive appears to be more cost-effective than a third follow-up (postcard reminder) mailing.