Use of Airtime Incentives to Improve Short Message Service Surveys in Colombia and Tanzania

A Randomized Controlled Trial of Airtime Incentives to Improve Short Message Service (SMS) Survey Performance in Colombia and Tanzania

This study evaluates the effect of four different airtime incentive amounts on short message service (SMS) survey cooperation, response, refusal and contact rates, as compared to control group, in Colombia and Tanzania.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Noncommunicable Diseases; Surveys and Questionnaires
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: 1X airtime incentive; Other: 2X airtime Incentive; Other: Lottery airtime incentive

Detailed Description

Using random digit dialing (RDD) sampling technique, participants were randomized to one of four airtime incentive amounts contingent on them completing the noncommunicable disease risk factor survey. This mobile phone survey will be sent as a short message service (SMS). In SMS surveys, participants use their touch tone key pad to answer written questions. (i.e. If you are male, press 1; If you are female, press 2). This study will be conducted in both Colombia and Tanzania.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 2151
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Colombia
  • D.c.
    • Bogota, D.c., Colombia
      • Instituto de Salud Publica Pontificia Universidad Javeriana
• Tanzania
  • Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
    • Ifakara Health Institute

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Access to a mobile phone
• Greater or equal to 18 years of age
• In Colombia, conversant in the Spanish language. In Tanzania, conversant in the Swahili language.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Less than 18 years of age

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: OTHER
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Interventional Model: PARALLEL
• Masking: SINGLE

Number of Arms

4

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Control; No airtime incentive for completing the survey
Experimental: 1X Incentive; 1X airtime incentive	Other: 1X airtime incentive; An incentive given in the form of airtime.
Experimental: 2X incentive; 2X airtime incentive	Other: 2X airtime Incentive; An incentive given in the form of airtime.
Experimental: Lottery Incentive; Lottery airtime incentive where odds of winning lottery are 1 out of 20	Other: Lottery airtime incentive; An incentive given in the form of airtime.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Cooperate Rate #1	As defined by American Association for Public Opinion Research, cooperation rate is defined as I/(I+P+R) where I is complete interviews, P is partial interviews, and R is refusals and breakoffs.	Through study completion, an average of one month
Response Rate #4	As defined by American Association for Public Opinion Research, response rate is defined as (I+P)/(I+P+R+eU) where I is complete interviews, P is partial interviews, R is refusals and breakoffs, and eU is the estimated eligible proportion of unknowns.	Through study completion, an average of one month

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Refusal Rate #2	As defined by American Association for Public Opinion Research, refusal rate is defined as (R)/(I+P+R+eU) where R is refusals and breakoffs, I is complete interviews, P is partial interviews, and eU is the estimated eligible proportion of unknowns.	Through study completion, an average of one month
Contact Rate #2	As defined by American Association for Public Opinion Research, contact rate is defined as (I+P+R)/(I+P+R+eU) where I is complete interviews, P is partial interviews, R is refusals and breakoffs, and eU is the estimated eligible proportion of unknowns.	Through study completion, an average of one month

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
• Collaborators: Ifakara Health Institute; Pontificia Universidad Javeriana; The Bloomberg Family Foundation, Inc.

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Gibson DG, Pariyo GW, Wosu AC, Greenleaf AR, Ali J, Ahmed S, Labrique AB, Islam K, Masanja H, Rutebemberwa E, Hyder AA. Evaluation of Mechanisms to Improve Performance of Mobile Phone Surveys in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Research Protocol. JMIR Res Protoc. 2017 May 5;6(5):e81. doi: 10.2196/resprot.7534.
• Gibson DG, Pereira A, Farrenkopf BA, Labrique AB, Pariyo GW, Hyder AA. Mobile Phone Surveys for Collecting Population-Level Estimates in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Literature Review. J Med Internet Res. 2017 May 5;19(5):e139. doi: 10.2196/jmir.7428.
• Gibson DG, Farrenkopf BA, Pereira A, Labrique AB, Pariyo GW. The Development of an Interactive Voice Response Survey for Noncommunicable Disease Risk Factor Estimation: Technical Assessment and Cognitive Testing. J Med Internet Res. 2017 May 5;19(5):e112. doi: 10.2196/jmir.7340.
• Hyder AA, Wosu AC, Gibson DG, Labrique AB, Ali J, Pariyo GW. Noncommunicable Disease Risk Factors and Mobile Phones: A Proposed Research Agenda. J Med Internet Res. 2017 May 5;19(5):e133. doi: 10.2196/jmir.7246.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): February 19, 2019
• Primary Completion (Actual): April 26, 2019
• Study Completion (Actual): April 26, 2019

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: December 5, 2018
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 6, 2018
• First Posted (Actual): December 7, 2018

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): August 11, 2020
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 7, 2020
• Last Verified: August 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: short message service; mobile phone surveys; incentive
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Pathologic Processes; Disease Attributes; Noncommunicable Diseases
• Other Study ID Numbers: 00007318-4.2

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No