Jennifer Renda
Sessions
Reimbursement incentive strategies play an integral part in survey participant engagement. Given the potential for participant non-response increases over the course of a study, innovative strategies designed to maximise retention and engagement are required. Contemporary approaches can combine not only monetary reimbursements, but also leverage a participant’s sense of altruism.
In 2013, the Department of Health funded the development of Ten to Men: The Australian Longitudinal Study on Male Health. Originally comprising a sample of around 16,000 men aged from 10 to 55, sample loss had been problematic in early waves with over 4,000 participants not responding to Wave 2, only 1.5 years after Wave 1 was conducted. Sample attrition concerns were intensified by a five-year gap between Waves 2 and 3 following a change in study management.
In 2019, preparations began for approaching the TTM sample for Wave 3 of the study. Providing study participants with the most effective incentive offer was a key goal for the Wave 3 approach. Early focus group testing with participants suggested there was an appetite for conscientious study considerations (e.g. responsibly sourced paper for materials). This highlighted the importance of considering more than just the amount and type of reimbursement, but also what broader value incentives may hold for participants.
This paper will focus on the Ten to Men approach to using altruistic incentives to engage longitudinal study participants. For both a pre-fieldwork panel maintenance activity and for our Wave 3 main data collections, we partnered with relevant charities and provided charitable donations as a participant incentive option. We will discuss the value of these partnerships, how this incentive approach was promoted to participants and how they responded. We will also highlight the key learnings and how they have impacted planning for future approaches.
Recording link: https://acspri-org-au.zoom.us/rec/share/sFdBbpep0OoacPzm634BiKe4bVY9lbHVDFWPYTVAhPA0z5bW5jP-TMNaiTTN1hdG.b2WvY5pK2mJq3Prh?startTime=1669169085000
Ten to Men: The Australian Longitudinal Study on Male Health is Australia’s only nationwide cohort study of boys to adult males. A key function of Ten to Men is to provide an evidence base for research and policy that improve health outcomes for all Australian boys and men. Accordingly, monitoring and maintaining representativeness of the sample is an important activity. Wave 1 of Ten to Men was undertaken in 2013/14 and recruited around 16,000 boys and men aged 10 to 55 years.
Participant attrition is experienced by all longitudinal studies, with select analytical techniques (e.g. sample weighting) able to mitigate some of these risks. However, as a longitudinal sample matures, many studies engage in ‘top-up’ activities to ensure meaningful analyses can continue to be conducted. To address increasing attrition, the Ten to Men Sample Top-up Pilot study was undertaken in 2022 to test the effectiveness of multiple top-up methods in relation to achieved sample size, attributes of recruited participants, cost effectiveness and retention rates. This study targeted recruitment of the following priority populations of Australian men (either underrepresented or prone to higher attrition rates) including those who are young (<35 years); culturally and linguistically diverse; identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander; have non-tertiary qualifications; or live outside metro areas.
Phase 1 of the pilot (March/April 2022) tested the 3 main sampling/recruitment approaches, including Random Digit Dialling, Address-Based Sampling, and targeted social media campaigns for priority populations. Testing was also conducted in relation to communication methods and messaging. Altruistic and scarcity messaging were tested for both the probability samples, and several different combinations of messaging and imagery were tested for each target population in the social media recruitment. Phase 2 (August-October 2022) included a follow-up survey to all recruited participants to test early retention outcomes for each sample group.
This session will present an overview of recruitment and retention approaches, examination of the outcomes, and general discussion of the challenges and recommendations for top-up of longitudinal samples.
Recording link: https://acspri-org-au.zoom.us/rec/share/sFS4E0Eva6L3CETeEbh9cr8bLW7jHf3BqadVrD3ZBgTXkIpMYjtO_h9UWipxxHi-.ZbxNTlh6Oe1hAEZ5?startTime=1669255431000