Impact of Participant Incentives and Direct and Snowball Sampling on Survey Response Rate in an Ethnically Diverse Community: Results from a Pilot Study of Physical Activity and the Built Environment

Community-wide efforts to encourage healthy behaviours must respond to the needs of existing neighbourhoods, especially those
where low physical activity (PA) is associated with social, economic, and cultural challenges. This study reports on the effect
of direct and snowball sampling strategies and financial incentive levels on the response rates of a built environment and
PA survey in a predominately urban, low-SES new-immigrant community. Women residing in the Jane-Finch neighbourhood of Toronto,
Ontario were selected to participate by quasi-random sampling, yielding a response rate of 41.5%. The survey completion rate
per contact attempt increased 2-fold when incentives were increased from 10 to20 and a further threefold following the
increase from 20 to30. Snowball sampled respondents were older, less likely to have full-time employment, and had lower
educational attainment than directly sampled participants. With appropriate incentives, face-to-face contact, and snowball
sampling, survey-based research is feasible within a low-SES, high minority population.