CMS-10437.GenIC#19.Justification for Providing Incentives (final)2-20-20

Overall Comment on Providing Incentives for Participation in Marketing Research. The research in this package is marketing research, designed for fast turn-around to inform key Agency communication decisions. Providing incentives for participation in social research is not uncommon and is being used increasingly as one component of improving overall response rates and reducing non-response bias (see, e.g., Massey & Tourangeau, 2013; Singer & Ye, 2013) even in academic and government-sponsored social research. In the marketing research arena, providing participant incentives is a well-established and accepted standard practice in the healthcare industry. Appropriate incentives are viewed as an important tool in the successful completion of these marketing research studies. In our experience, in order to achieve a representative sample of required participants in a timely and cost-effective manner, projects must provide incentives at levels that attract, retain, and adequately compensate respondents for their time and effort. This is especially true of populations that are hard to reach or hard to engage. The use of incentives to bolster participation applies to both survey and qualitative research. Indeed, incentives improve the quality and efficiency of research in a number of ways, including reducing non-response bias, improving participation by those in hard-to-reach groups, and increasing the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of research (e.g., David & Ware, 2014; Singer & Ye, 2013; Stewart & Shamdasani, 2015).

Many marketing research firms have recognized this need and developed participant panels that can provide a sampling source for thematically and methodologically diverse studies. In contrast to ad hoc recruitment, use of such panels can significantly reduce the costs associated with locating appropriate respondents and ensure their immediate availability. Economic and research success with panels is strongly linked with screening, segmentation, and motivational issues which assure panelist availability. Appropriate incentives play a key role in these efforts. The target participants for this research represent a somewhat narrow population:

• Individuals between the ages of 18 and 64, who live in states with a Federally Facilitated Health Insurance Marketplace, who are currently uninsured and would be eligible for Health Insurance Marketplace coverage, and

• Individuals who live in states with a Federally Facilitated Health Insurance Marketplace who currently have health coverage through the Marketplace

Offering an appropriate incentive will improve the potential for recruitment and attendance of individuals who fall into these narrow specifications, including individuals who may ordinarily decline to participate in research (Guyll, M., Spoth, R. & Redmond, C., 2003) – such as those who are currently uninsured. Additionally:

• Focus groups will be conducted in person

• The duration of each focus group is 1.5 hours

• Participants will be required to arrange for and to travel to and from the research facilities

• Research facilities do not provide childcare, so participants will need to arrange for their own childcare, as necessary

Therefore, participants will be offered an incentive of $75 for their participation.

References

David MC and Ware RS (2014). Meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials supports the use of incentives for inducing response to electronic health surveys. J Clin Epidem, 67(11), 1210-1221.

Guyll, M., Spoth, R. & Redmond, C. (2003). The Effects of Incentives and Research Requirements on Participation Rates for a Community-Based Preventive Intervention Research Study. The Journal of Primary Prevention 24, 25–41. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025023600517

Massey D and Tourangeau R (2013). New challenges to social measurement. Ann Am Acad Pol Soc Sci, 645(1): 6–22.

Singer E and Ye C (2013). The use and effects of incentives in surveys. Ann Am Acad Pol Soc Sci, 645(1): 112-141.

Stewart DW and Shamdasani PN (2015). Focus Groups: Theory & Practice, 3^rd Edition. Los Angeles: Sage.

Yancey AK, Ortega AN, and Kumanyika SK (2006). Effective recruitment and retention of minority research participants. Ann Rev Public Health, 27, 1-28.

1