Abstract
To examine the effects of lotteries on response behavior, five experiments were conducted in a nonprofit online panel. The type of lottery offered for study participation was a cash lottery, a voucher lottery, or a lottery of surprise gifts of either known or unknown value. The control group was not offered a lottery. Dependent measures were response, retention, and several facets of response quality. None of the lotteries significantly increased response, retention, or response quality. However, looking at effect sizes reveals a pattern across the five experiments that can inform and refine the practice of employing lotteries in nonprofit online panels. This pattern suggests that lotteries are more effective with panelists low in motivation than high in motivation.
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