Monetary Incentives to Improve Follow-up Data Collection

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Abstract
Loss of subjects during follow-up is a frequent occurrence in outcome research on habit disorders. This attrition may have undesirable effects on statistical power, effect-size estimation, and causal inferences. The present study investigated the effects of offering subjects a monetary incentive of $0.00, $5.00, or $15.00 as a cost effective alternative to normal follow-up procedures for attending a scheduled follow-up meeting. The results indicate that these modest incentives did not significantly enhance attendance at the follow-up visit. Suggestions for future applications of monetary incentives in follow-up data collection are provided.