Click on the magnifying glass to the right. Starting typing a topic you wish to learn about

Skip to end of metadata
Go to start of metadata

You are viewing an old version of this page. View the current version.

Compare with Current View Page History

Version 1 Next »

Gift Card Incentives
Initial Considerations
REDCap projects can support the distribution of gift cards as compensation for participating in a study. However, it is important to know that it is not without fraught. Please keep these concepts in mind as you plan your study:

  • REDCap doesn't expose the IP address for the client response to an anonymous survey or have the ability to ban an IP address manually.
  • REDCap will ban an IP if it hits a threshold of 600 connections in 60 seconds.
  • It is highly suggested that you seek an admin review (re-charge fee required) of a submission to set a status before sending any codes for gift cards if you intend to disburse gift card codes automatically
  • For an automated gift card system to work best it may need to be separated into two projects.
    • the first project would be the public capture of the registration where spam submission still may happen
    • the second project handles the dispersal of the gift cards which is a manual process.
  • Make sure you enable the Google captcha on the public survey to cut down on spam submissions.
  • Use additional branching logic before sending anything automatically for gift cards is also advisable


The Process
There are many ways to design a survey project to meet your needs. Below is one method:
Creating anonymous surveys for incentives -

  1. Make the survey optional non-anonymous (i.e. put a field at the end something like "Please enter your email if you'd like to be entered into a drawing for a $50 gift card as a thank you for participating in this study" Then you can do a drawing and email the winner(s). People who don't want to list their email don't have to.
  2. Use branching logic to populate a link to a gift card for every Nth participant. Organize hidden fields that will count # of responses, then create N fields for N # gift cards you'd like to give out, each with a link to a gift card that populates at the end of the survey.


Additional Considerations
BMIC REDCap team can offer additional (recharge) support for Gift Card Projects such as:

  • Investigating a custom method that may help solve checking legitimate versus scam emails
  • Pull an IP from the web server logs to ban IPs. This is an intensive process and is after the fact when fraudulent responses start to roll in.
    • It requires us to update the REDCap host operating system firewall.


If you need assistance with this type of project, please submit a Help Desk Support ticket

  • No labels