After-School Initiative's Toolkit for Evaluating

Appendix III. The Use of Incentives in Evaluation
An ASI program may choose to use incentives as a way of enticing youth to participate in their evaluation or as a way of getting parents to
return consent forms. Incentives are a good way to increase participation and demonstrate that a program values youth participants’ and
parents’ time. One of the downsides of incentives is cost. Also, some researchers argue that incentives may introduce more bias because
they compel participants to answer more favorably due to payment or other reward received or may select for specific sub-populations
based on the type of incentive.
Many programs may not need incentives because youth participants and parents are often motivated and place a high value on the
program. In this case it may be unnecessary to provide incentives for participation in evaluation activities.
However, some programs may need incentives to help increase participation in their efforts. If low response rates are expected or become
an issue, incentives can be used to increase participation. Incentives can be used in a variety of ways:
• Advance payment for future work: incentives are given to all participants (or parents) asked to take part in the evaluation regardless
of their response. These incentives are often less significant and play more on the “guilt factor” rather than reward people with
reasonable compensation for the work performed. (This approach is often used by charitable organization asking for donations.
For instance, personalized address labels, pens, a penny, etc. are mailed to motivate people to give.)
• Payment for work completed: participants who complete the survey are given an incentive. These incentives are often more
significant such as t-shirts, hats, snacks, bumper stickers, coupons for use at a fast-food restaurant, etc. An option for programs
with limited budgets is the use of a lottery or drawing. Every participant completing a survey is entered in the lottery to win a prize.
Note that if incentives are paid for work completed, there must be a system in place to protect the anonymity or confidentiality of the
respondents (i.e., people cannot be asked to sign the survey so they get their prize). A common way to get around this dilemma is to ask
individuals to turn in a second form indicating the survey is complete at the same time the actual completed survey is returned. The surveys
and completion forms are kept in two different boxes.
Instead of offering money as an incentive, consider alternatives. Some ASI programs have given youth candy (or more healthy treats) as a
reward for completing the survey. Others have enticed youth with an end-of-semester pizza party. In any case, program staff needs to make
sure youth understand that their reward is for participation in the survey and NOT for giving high marks.
Toolkit for Evaluating Positive Youth Development 41