It is permissible to offer study participants an incentive. Capella University does not enforce a set limit on the amount of incentives offered to study participants. The IRB will review the incentive request during review to determine if the incentive is adequately reflective of the time and effort asked of the participant to be in the study. It is important that incentives not appear to be coercive but rather are compensation for time spent in the study. You may wish to review the literature for examples of incentives used in study populations and/or study procedures similar to your own.

Capella University does not permit researchers to offer lottery opportunities to study participants. Not all states within the United States approve the use of lotteries, so to ensure that learners are in compliance with state laws, researchers are not permitted to offer lottery opportunities to study participants.

If an incentive is offered by a researcher, it must be made available to all study participants.

It may also be acceptable to reimburse participants for their transportation costs in addition to an incentive or instead of an incentive.