Getting People to Respond: Insights from an Incentive Experiment in Polish GGS

Anna Maliszewska , SGH Warsaw School of Economics

The response rates to social surveys have been declining for years. Therefore, researchers increase their efforts to encourage participation by applying a variety of means, including providing respondent incentives. Different theories and modes are being tested to ensure high response rates and at the same time to maintain the cost-effectiveness of studies. To contribute to this discussion, the Polish research team of the Generations and Gender Survey (GGS) has designed an experiment to test the effectiveness of different incentives types. In my presentation, I will discuss the assumptions and results of the experiment. The ongoing round of the GGS (GGS-II) in Poland started in September 2025. It aims to cover a representative sample of 10,000 Poles aged 18-59 and uses mixed data collection methods: CAWI and CAPI. The incentives experiment has been executed at the beginning of data collection, testing four different incentive models for 2,000 respondents (500 respondents for each model, randomly selected from the basic sample, maintaining the adopted stratification). The experiment considers combinations of unconditional and conditional incentives, assessing their effectiveness in recruiting respondents to complete the survey online. Given the limited number of experimental studies on the effectiveness of incentives in Poland and across Central and Eastern Europe—particularly in the context of CAWI surveys—this study provides valuable insights into the performance of different incentive models. It also examines differences in their effectiveness across age and gender groups, offering evidence relevant for improving participation strategies in large-scale social surveys.

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 Presented in Session P8. Demographic Trends, History, Data and Methods