Survey lottery incentives and institutional response rates: An exploratory analysis

Abstract

Many institutional and educational researchers are well aware that response rates for assessment surveys have been declining over the past few decades (Dey, 1997; Laguilles, Williams, & Saunders, 2011). As a result, many researchers have noted that our ability to adequately assess student academic experiences, satisfaction, engagement, use of campus resources, and other important topics in higher education are at risk (Pike, 2008). Consequently, use of incentives are one tool that many institutional researchers have come to rely on to boost or hold steady their response rates for various campus student surveys. Though research regarding the efficacy of incentives to boost survey response rates in higher education is scant, the research that does exist suggests that incentives are an effective way to boost institutional response rates (Heerwegh, 2006; Laguilles, Williams, & Saunders, 2011). The purpose of this study is to investigate the efficacy of lottery incentives (the mostfrequently used incentive approach) to boost responses rates for institutions using the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE).