The Use of Monetary Incentives in National Assessment Household Surveys

Abstract

Abstract The National Assessment of Educational Progress household survey of young adults 26–35 years old uses a unique monetary incentive procedure to effectively reduce nonresponse and to increase overall cost effectiveness. As a result of poor response in the first year of National Assessment, a special followup study was conducted to examine alternative field procedures; four different incentive plans were tested in a designed experiment imposed on 64 area segment sampling units. The results of the experimental study and of the adopted monetary incentive procedure on response rates in Years 2, 3, 4, and 5 of the National Assessment household surveys are reported.