CDC BRFSS Cognitive Testing Task: Justification for Proposed Incentive

CDC BRFSS Cognitive Testing Task: Justification for Proposed Incentive

CDC intends to provide an incentive to participants for a BRFSS 2023 cognitive testing task. Westat’s BRFSS cognitive testing tasks during 2020, 2021 and 2022 provided with respondents with a $50 for virtual sessions. Westat also proposes a $50 for the 2023 cognitive testing task.

Westat consults with vendors that recruit volunteers for online and in-person interviews to determine incentive rates offered to interview participants as a token of appreciation. Although this proposed incentive amount is below the market rate for online and in-person interviewing, PRC Corporation will provide an incentive of $50 for the 60-minute BRFSS virtual interviews. Each respondent will receive their incentive following completion of their interview. This incentive will ensure that we are able to attract participants who meet our screening requirements to participate in the online interviews and improves the likelihood that recruits will show up to participate in their scheduled interview sessions.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that the average hourly wage of employees on private, nonfarm payrolls in April 2023 was $33.36^[1]. The $50 incentive amount is considered appropriate because of the following participation needs of our important populations.

• Online participants must have a functioning device (e.g., computer, tablet, or phone) with broadband Internet, which may incur costs from renting equipment and/or data usage on their Internet plans for the duration of the interviews.

• Online participants are required to join the interview from a quiet location where there are no distractions, which may require hourly childcare/daycare costs or special accommodations during that time.

• Time and effort spent toward the online and phone screening, check-in and check-out procedures, and setting up the ZoomGov online platform on the device chosen.

The incentive is an effective method of drawing attention to the study and gaining cooperation for completing it. It is not intended as a payment for their time but rather a means for increasing response rates. The practical consequences of volunteers perceiving an insufficient incentive may result in:

• Increased time and cost of recruitment due to lower response and enrollment levels, and/or the need to schedule additional interviews to achieve the targeted number of participants.

• Increased likelihood of “no-shows” with some replacements needed beyond those over-recruited.

[1]^[1] Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor. (2023, May 5). Economic news release: Average hourly and weekly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm payrolls by industry sector, seasonally adjusted.  https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t19.htm