Sometimes all it takes is thank-you!
20 November 2014
We’ve recently reviewed the rewards shared by the research participant community in 2014, and found that despite iPads, cash and gift vouchers being on offer, the most popular reward was in fact a simple “thank-you!”
More than half of the people that offered up their valuable time, thoughts and feelings to academic researchers via our service did so in the knowledge that their only ‘reward’ was the ‘sincere gratitude’ of the researcher they were assisting.
We know we have a dedicated and generous community of people willing to participate in research, and that’s what sets us apart from other commercial research facilitators, but even we were surprised when we saw the figures. An overwhelming 60% of the participants that have engaged in research via our website in 2014 did so purely out of the goodness of their heart!
The Top 10 most popular participant rewards in 2014 (by number of participants) are as follows:
1 - Sincere gratitude - the Call For Participants community are a humbling bunch - over 60% participated in studies where the only reward on offer was the researcher’s ‘sincere gratitude’. Amazing!
2 - Simple cash payments - people are motivated by the simplicity of Call For Participants- no annoying thresholds, just straight forward cash payments direct from the researcher to them.
3 - Gift vouchers from Starbucks to Walmart and everything in between, there’s been a voucher to suit every type of participant interest.
4 - Amazon vouchers - instant credit to spend with the world’s biggest online retailer is a big pull.
5 - Study results feedback - over 300 participants were happy to contribute to research and receive personalised feedback as their reward.
6 - Free food and drink kept many participants happy as they offered up their thoughts and feelings.
7 - Free tickets to events and theme parks were the reward of choice for many thrill seekers out there.
8 - Personalised health and fitness advice was welcomed by those that offered up insight into their lifestyle and diet habits.
9 - iPads are always a popular reward, with a number of participants taking away one of these appetising apples.
10 - Free gifts on offer were an eclectic mix of App downloads to fashion accessories, there really was something for everyone.