PROMISED CONTRIBUTIONS TO CHARITY AND MAIL SURVEY RESPONSES

The efficacy of four types of incentives for stimulating mail survey response rates was examined against a no-incentive control group. Two of the incentives were enclosed personal cash rewards (25ø and $1), and two were promised rewards. Of the latter, one was an impersonal reward, the promise of a $1 contribution to a charity of the respondent's choice, and one a personal reward, the opportunity to win a $200 cash prize. As hypothesized, the personal cash rewards generated response rates that were significantly higher than that of the control group. Also as hypothesized, the charity-incentive group produced a response rate that was not significantly different from the control group. Discontinuation of the use of charity incentives should be seriously considered by future researchers. In contrast, the cash prize incentive yielded a significantly greater response than the control group, as expected, and was on par with the 25ø group. Additional investigation of the use of cash prize incentives is recommended.