Badge It Up : The Effect of Gamification on Online Survey Response

Abstract: Collecting qualitative feedback from volunteers is essential but challenging for non-profit organisations. Gamification has been used in different contexts to try to improve users’ motivation, but has presented mixed results in the context of online surveys. This study examines the effect of achievement badges on the survey response behaviour of non-profit volunteers in online feedback surveys in Sweden. A survey tool was created to conduct the study, collecting both survey responses and behavioural patterns within the survey in real time. The survey tool had four versions, gamified and non-gamified, and on mobile and computer view. Sending out the survey together with four non-profit organisations, 57 volunteers participated. Their behavioural patterns were analysed through principal component analysis, and differences in responses and results through Pearson’s correlations coefficient and Spearman’s rank correlations. The results indicate that the impact of achievement badges on respondent behaviour was not statistically significant. There was a weak indication that the respondents of the gamified survey spent, on average, less time in the survey, rated their experience as lower and gave shorter answers. Only three respondents interacted meaningfully with the badges, which could explain why achievement badges as an isolated game achievement has proven unsuccessful in online surveys this far to increase engagement.