The Tea Bag Experiment: More Evidence on Incentives in Mail Surveys

This paper reports the results of a study which compared the effectiveness of a tea bag and a $1 coin as prepaid incentives in a mail survey of the general public.
  

The Tea Bag Experiment: More Evidence on Incentives in Mail Surveys

Philip Gendall Janet HoekandMike Brennan Massey University

Introduction

It is well established that relatively small prepaid cash incentives increase the response rate for mail surveys (see: Brennan 1992; Brennan et al. 1993; Church 1993; Warriner et al.1996). The general explanation for this phenomenon is the so-called norm of reciprocity, the existence of a strong normative standing leading individuals to strive to repay favours freely given. Despite the proven effectiveness of prepaid monetary incentives, there are always respondents who object...

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