Improving Longitudinal Survey Participation Among Internal Medicine Residents: Incorporating Behavioral Economic Techniques and Avoiding Friday or Saturday Invitations

摘要

Low participation rates limit the generalizability of surveys. Prior studies show participation is better with financial incen-tives. ' Beyond financial incentives, insights from behavioral economics reveal that psychological concepts, like regret aver-sion, can increase participation. For example, subsequent medication adherence improves when patients are entered into a "regret lottery"-they can win prizes if they adhere or are told how much they could have won, had they adhered. Other studies of survey participation have compared response rates for some, but not all days of the week. Using a longitudinal survey of internal medicine residents, we examined the effect of (a) whether the prize and regret message components of a regret lottery increased subsequent participation and (b) whether response rates varied based on the day of the week survey invitations were sent.