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Investigating the effect of providing monetary incentives to participants on completion rates of referred co-respondents: an embedded randomized controlled trial

Investigating the effect of providing monetary incentives to participants on completion rates of referred co-respondents: an embedded randomized controlled trial
Investigating the effect of providing monetary incentives to participants on completion rates of referred co-respondents: an embedded randomized controlled trial
Background: the use of a second informant (co-respondent) is a common method of identifying potential bias in outcome data (e.g., parent-report child outcomes). There is, however, limited evidence regarding methods of increasing response rates from co-respondents. The use of financial incentives is associated with higher levels of engagement and follow-up data collection in online surveys. This study investigated whether financial incentives paid to index participants in an online trial of a parenting-focused intervention, would lead to higher levels of co-respondent data collection.

Methods: a study within a trial (SWAT) using a parallel group RCT design. Participants in the host study (an RCT of an online intervention) were randomised into one of two SWAT arms: received/did not receive a £15 voucher when referred co-respondent completed baseline measures. Primary outcome was completion (No/Yes) of Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS or SCAS-Pre) at baseline. Additional analysis explored impact of incentives on data quality.

Results: intention to treat analysis of 899 parents (183 co-respondents) in the no-incentive arm, and 911 parents (199 co-respondents) in incentive arm. Nomination of co-respondents was similar between incentive arms. The RR for the incentive arm compared to the no incentive arm was 1.13 (95% CI: 0.91 to 1.41, p = 0.264) indicating that incentives did not impact completion of outcomes by consented co-respondents. There were no indications of different data quality between arms.

Discussion: the finding that payment of financial incentives to index participant does not lead to greater levels of co-respondent outcome completion suggests that careful consideration should be made before allocating resources in this way in future trials.

Trial registration: the host study was registered at Study Record | ClinicalTrials.gov and the SWAT study was registered in the SWAT Store | The Northern Ireland Network for Trials Methodology Research (qub.ac.uk): SWAT number 143: Filetoupload,1099612,en.pdf (qub.ac.uk).
Co-respondent, Incentives, RCT, SWAT, Trial design
2451-8654
Dunn, Abby
a0ae8811-aa28-4af7-a178-3492e177b54a
Alvarez, James
c1b9e933-c803-4555-84bd-c5bbfc212b52
Arbon, Amy
f2b3b84b-4cd1-41d8-9914-e9cd54df7d2d
Bremner, Stephen
0e117fa6-27ea-41cc-9523-70f90cd65bc0
Elsby-Pearson, Chloe
04e687f2-6fc4-4089-8e64-e1f70fe564a2
Emsley, Richard
0b0883f9-0136-48ea-aa6b-d8aa0bb12e56
Jones, Christopher
27df0231-0294-4a58-be93-570dab219f3d
Lawrence, Peter
0d45e107-38ef-4932-aec1-504573de01ef
Lester, Kathryn J.
96b72562-9017-4343-8297-6f6cf6756027
Morson, Natalie
2cd40135-77e1-402e-bccb-93fa3c4ba5bf
Perry, Nicky
9d7c097f-cad6-4e2d-8e01-68f53ff0491a
Simner, Julia
bb2156da-4da1-4485-8583-4b456b262541
Thomson, Abi
6d7a4c24-a93c-4023-bcd4-af6b1dd5c8cc
Cartwright-Hatton, Sam
ee69de53-c1b6-48a4-bb94-4a8fd5b6d1e6
Dunn, Abby
a0ae8811-aa28-4af7-a178-3492e177b54a
Alvarez, James
c1b9e933-c803-4555-84bd-c5bbfc212b52
Arbon, Amy
f2b3b84b-4cd1-41d8-9914-e9cd54df7d2d
Bremner, Stephen
0e117fa6-27ea-41cc-9523-70f90cd65bc0
Elsby-Pearson, Chloe
04e687f2-6fc4-4089-8e64-e1f70fe564a2
Emsley, Richard
0b0883f9-0136-48ea-aa6b-d8aa0bb12e56
Jones, Christopher
27df0231-0294-4a58-be93-570dab219f3d
Lawrence, Peter
0d45e107-38ef-4932-aec1-504573de01ef
Lester, Kathryn J.
96b72562-9017-4343-8297-6f6cf6756027
Morson, Natalie
2cd40135-77e1-402e-bccb-93fa3c4ba5bf
Perry, Nicky
9d7c097f-cad6-4e2d-8e01-68f53ff0491a
Simner, Julia
bb2156da-4da1-4485-8583-4b456b262541
Thomson, Abi
6d7a4c24-a93c-4023-bcd4-af6b1dd5c8cc
Cartwright-Hatton, Sam
ee69de53-c1b6-48a4-bb94-4a8fd5b6d1e6

Dunn, Abby, Alvarez, James, Arbon, Amy, Bremner, Stephen, Elsby-Pearson, Chloe, Emsley, Richard, Jones, Christopher, Lawrence, Peter, Lester, Kathryn J., Morson, Natalie, Perry, Nicky, Simner, Julia, Thomson, Abi and Cartwright-Hatton, Sam (2024) Investigating the effect of providing monetary incentives to participants on completion rates of referred co-respondents: an embedded randomized controlled trial. Contemporary Clinical Trials Communications, 38, [101267]. (doi:10.1016/j.conctc.2024.101267).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Background: the use of a second informant (co-respondent) is a common method of identifying potential bias in outcome data (e.g., parent-report child outcomes). There is, however, limited evidence regarding methods of increasing response rates from co-respondents. The use of financial incentives is associated with higher levels of engagement and follow-up data collection in online surveys. This study investigated whether financial incentives paid to index participants in an online trial of a parenting-focused intervention, would lead to higher levels of co-respondent data collection.

Methods: a study within a trial (SWAT) using a parallel group RCT design. Participants in the host study (an RCT of an online intervention) were randomised into one of two SWAT arms: received/did not receive a £15 voucher when referred co-respondent completed baseline measures. Primary outcome was completion (No/Yes) of Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS or SCAS-Pre) at baseline. Additional analysis explored impact of incentives on data quality.

Results: intention to treat analysis of 899 parents (183 co-respondents) in the no-incentive arm, and 911 parents (199 co-respondents) in incentive arm. Nomination of co-respondents was similar between incentive arms. The RR for the incentive arm compared to the no incentive arm was 1.13 (95% CI: 0.91 to 1.41, p = 0.264) indicating that incentives did not impact completion of outcomes by consented co-respondents. There were no indications of different data quality between arms.

Discussion: the finding that payment of financial incentives to index participant does not lead to greater levels of co-respondent outcome completion suggests that careful consideration should be made before allocating resources in this way in future trials.

Trial registration: the host study was registered at Study Record | ClinicalTrials.gov and the SWAT study was registered in the SWAT Store | The Northern Ireland Network for Trials Methodology Research (qub.ac.uk): SWAT number 143: Filetoupload,1099612,en.pdf (qub.ac.uk).

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Accepted/In Press date: 28 January 2024
e-pub ahead of print date: 8 February 2024
Published date: 8 February 2024
Additional Information: © 2024 The Authors.
Keywords: Co-respondent, Incentives, RCT, SWAT, Trial design

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 487518
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/487518
ISSN: 2451-8654
PURE UUID: 82a847c8-b8b5-442f-9870-6df2d0cf5adb
ORCID for Peter Lawrence: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-6181-433X

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Date deposited: 22 Feb 2024 17:42
Last modified: 22 May 2024 01:45

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Contributors

Author: Abby Dunn
Author: James Alvarez
Author: Amy Arbon
Author: Stephen Bremner
Author: Chloe Elsby-Pearson
Author: Richard Emsley
Author: Christopher Jones
Author: Peter Lawrence ORCID iD
Author: Kathryn J. Lester
Author: Natalie Morson
Author: Nicky Perry
Author: Julia Simner
Author: Abi Thomson
Author: Sam Cartwright-Hatton

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