The effects of incentives on data quality in online panels

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Anja Göritz
• Subject Area: Empirical Social Research
• Term: from 2008 to 2012
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 43967071

Online panels (i. e., Web-based participant pools) have become widespread because they allow methodologically and economically favourable data collection. In view of the importance of online panels, it is vital to develop methods for promoting the quality of gathered data. Meta-analyses show that, at least in traditional survey modes, incentives have a larger impact than other response-enhancing methods. By handing out incentives to panel members, researchers can influence panelists' likelihood of participating in individual studies and the quality of their responses. However, because employing incentives might entail both desired and undesired effects, we need comprehensive insights about the effects of incentives, including trade-offs between different facets of data quality. The proposed project seeks to develop evidence-based guidelines for short-term as well as long-term employment of incentives in online panels to attain the goal of collecting high-quality data in a cost-conscious manner. The project addresses gaps of previous research by examining the effects of incentives on data quality (1) in both probabilistically sampled and opt-in online panels, (2) in both a crosssectional and longitudinal manner, (3) involving hitherto neglected types of incentives, and (4) taking into account hitherto neglected facets of data quality. To achieve these aims, three cross-sectional experiments and one longitudinal experiment are proposed.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 1292: Survey Methodology