Effect of Incentives and Aversiveness of Treatment on Willingness to Participate in Research

Abstract

In three experiments, we studied the effect of incentives (0%, 1%, or 5% of grade points; $2 or $10) on willingness to participate in hypothetical experiments varying in degree of aversiveness. College students read a brief description of an experiment, rated their willingness to participate, and wrote comments. Willingness to participate was greater with larger incentives (in two of three experiments) and was lower for more aversive treatments (in all experiments). We discuss the teacher's role in the research process.