Survey Experiments on Interactions and Nonresponse: A Case Study of Incentives and Modes

This chapter presents a case study focusing on the comparison of a mixed‐mode design with a web component and a computer assisted personal interviewing‐only design and on the use of incentives. Outcome measures include response rate and other quality indicators. The chapter investigates these factors in a single wave of a longitudinal panel. It presents a critical review of the literature on randomized experiments to study the effects of incentives with special reference to different modes. The chapter then presents the case study based on experiments carried out in Wave 5 of the Understanding Society Innovation Panel in 2012. Outcomes from the experiments are presented using statistical tests and models. The case study provides an example of how to design such experiments and how to handle the analysis of such experiments from a statistical perspective, while also providing evidence of the impact of incentive strategies and modes.