TY  - JOUR
AU  - Turnbull, Alison E
AU  - O'Connor, Cristi L
AU  - Lau, Bryan
AU  - Halpern, Scott D
AU  - Needham, Dale M
PY  - 2015
DA  - 2015/07/29
TI  - Allowing Physicians to Choose the Value of Compensation for Participation in a Web-Based Survey: Randomized Controlled Trial
JO  - J Med Internet Res
SP  - e189
VL  - 17
IS  - 7
KW  - data collection
KW  - monetary incentives
KW  - cash
KW  - physicians
KW  - electronic questionnaire
KW  - survey design
KW  - response rate
AB  - Background: Survey response rates among physicians are declining, and determining an appropriate level of compensation to motivate participation poses a major challenge. Objective: To estimate the effect of permitting intensive care physicians to select their preferred level of compensation for completing a short Web-based survey on physician (1) response rate, (2) survey completion rate, (3) time to response, and (4) time spent completing the survey. Methods: A total of 1850 US intensivists from an existing database were randomized to receive a survey invitation email with or without an Amazon.com incentive available to the first 100 respondents.  The incentive could be instantly redeemed for an amount chosen by the respondent, up to a maximum of US $50. Results: The overall response rate was 35.90% (630/1755).  Among the 35.4% (111/314) of eligible participants choosing the incentive, 80.2% (89/111) selected the maximum value.  Among intensivists offered an incentive, the response was 6.0% higher (95% CI 1.5-10.5, P=.01), survey completion was marginally greater (807/859, 94.0% vs 892/991, 90.0%; P=.06), and the median number of days to survey response was shorter (0.8, interquartile range [IQR] 0.2-14.4 vs 6.6, IQR 0.3-22.3; P=.001), with no difference in time spent completing the survey. Conclusions: Permitting intensive care physicians to determine compensation level for completing a short Web-based survey modestly increased response rate and substantially decreased response time without decreasing the time spent on survey completion. 
SN  - 1438-8871
UR  - http://www.jmir.org/2015/7/e189/
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.3898
UR  - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26223821
DO  - 10.2196/jmir.3898
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/jmir.3898
ER  -