Trial reportTrials2009
Does a monetary incentive improve the response to a postal questionnaire in a randomised controlled trial? The MINT incentive study.
Trial report in Trials, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Methods to increase response to postal and electronic questionnaires.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2023Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Strategies to improve retention in randomised trials.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021Pooled it
- Assessing effective interventions to improve trial retention: do they contain behaviour change techniques?Trials · 2020Pooled it
- Identifying additional studies for a systematic review of retention strategies in randomised controlled trials: making contact with trials units and trial methodologists.Systematic reviews · 2017Pooled it
- Strategies to improve retention in randomised trials: a Cochrane systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ open · 2014Pooled it
- Strategies to improve retention in randomised trials.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2013Pooled it
- Optimising patient engagement for assessing total joint arthroplasty outcomes - a randomised controlled trial.Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research · 2025Trial
- Small Social Incentives Did Not Improve the Survey Response Rate of Patients Who Underwent Orthopaedic Surgery: A Randomized Trial.Clinical orthopaedics and related research · 2019Trial
- The effect of a voucher incentive on a survey response rate in the clinical setting: a quasi-randomized controlled trial.BMC medical research methodology · 2018Trial
- Trial
- The use of incentives in vulnerable populations for a telephone survey: a randomized controlled trial.BMC research notes · 2012Trial
- Article
- Participant retention in a fully remote trial of digital psychotherapy: Comparison of incentive types.Frontiers in digital health · 2022Article
- A Mobile Social Network-Based Smoking Cessation Intervention for Chinese Male Smokers: Protocol for a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR research protocols · 2020Article
- Calculating the Expected Value of Sample Information in Practice: Considerations from 3 Case Studies.Medical decision making : an international journal of the Society for Medical Decision Making · 2020Article
- Trial Forge Guidance 2: how to decide if a further Study Within A Trial (SWAT) is needed.Trials · 2020Article
- Best practice guidance for the use of strategies to improve retention in randomized trials developed from two consensus workshops.Journal of clinical epidemiology · 2017Article
- A Psycho-Educational Intervention for People with a Family History of Depression: Pilot Results.Journal of genetic counseling · 2017Article
- Maximising follow-up participation rates in a large scale 45 and Up Study in Australia.Emerging themes in epidemiology · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundSending a monetary incentive with postal questionnaires has been found to improve the proportion of responders, in research in non-healthcare settings. However, there is little research on use of incentives to improve follow-up rates in clinical trials, and existing studies are inconclusive. We conducted a randomised trial among participants in the Managing Injuries of the Neck Trial (MINT) to investigate the effects on the proportion of questionnaires returned and overall non-response of sending a 5 pounds gift voucher with a follow-up questionnaire.
methodsParticipants in MINT were randomised to receive either: (a) a 5 POUNDSgift voucher (incentive group) or (b) no gift voucher (no incentive group), with their 4 month or 8 month follow-up questionnaire. We recorded, for each group, the number of questionnaires returned, the number returned without any chasing from the study office, the overall number of non-responders (after all chasing efforts by the study office), and the costs of following up each group.
results2144 participants were randomised, 1070 to the incentive group and 1074 to the no incentive group. The proportion of questionnaires returned (RR 1.10 (95% CI 1.05, 1.16)) and the proportion returned without chasing (RR 1.14 (95% CI 1.05, 1.24) were higher in the incentive group, and the overall non-response rate was lower (RR 0.68 (95% CI 0.53, 0.87)). Adjustment for injury severity and hospital of recruitment to MINT made no difference to these results, and there were no differences in results between the 4-month and 8-month follow up questionnaires. Analysis of costs suggested a cost of 67.29 POUNDS per additional questionnaire returned.
conclusionMonetary incentives may be an effective way to increase the proportion of postal questionnaires returned and minimise loss to follow-up in clinical trials. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN61305297.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.