Effect of participation incentives on the composition of national health surveys.

Our understanding of health attitudes and behaviors often relies on national surveys. This study examined how the composition of the Health Information National Trends Survey was influenced by participation incentives. Younger respondents who had had cancer were the least likely to report that a lack of incentive would dissuade them from participating. The group receiving no incentive had the smallest proportion of individuals with cancer. However, there was no relationship between incentive group and family history of cancer, age, or income. Overall, incentives appear to be a sensible way to motivate survey participation.