Scott D. Halpern, Rachel Kohn, Aaron Dornbrand‐Lo, Thomas Metkus, David A. Asch, Kevin G. Volpp
To compare the effects of lottery‐based and fixed incentives on clinicians' response to surveys.
Three randomized trials with fixed payments and actuarially equivalent lotteries.
Trial 1 compared a low‐probability/high‐payout lottery, a high‐probability/low‐payout lottery, and no incentive. Trial 2 compared a moderate‐probability/moderate‐payout lottery with an unconditional fixed payment (payment sent with questionnaire). Trial 3 compared a moderate‐probability/moderate‐payout lottery with a conditional fixed payment (payment promised following response).
Neither the low‐probability nor high‐probability lotteries improved response compared with no incentive. Unconditional fixed payments produced significantly greater response than actuarially equivalent lotteries, but conditional fixed payments did not.
Lottery‐based incentives do not improve clinicians' response rates compared with no incentives, and they are inferior to unconditional fixed payments.
