THE EFFECT OF LARGE MONETARY INCENTIVES ON SURVEY COMPLETION EVIDENCE FROM A RANDOMIZED EXPERIMENT WITH THE SURVEY OF CONSUMER FINANCES

This study examines the effect of prepaid and large postpaid monetary incentives using data from an experimental version of the Survey of Consumer Finances. The survey was fielded in person to a random sample of adults in high-income areas of the United States. Monetary incentives were randomly assigned: $ 5 prepaid incentive and notification postcard, or no prepaid incentive and no postcard. In addition, promised incentives were much greater in value than are typically offered by surveys: $ 50, $ 100, or $ 150 upon completion of the survey. The study analyzes the effect of variation in these incentives on unit response, including respondent- initiated phone calls to complete the survey, to an interviewer-administered survey about household finances. We find that prepaid incentives increased respondent-initiated phone interviews and the overall response rate and that $ 100 and $ 150 promised incentives both increased response rates relative to the $ 50 incentive, thereby reducing interviewer effort.