Low-Cost Gamification of Online Surveys: Improving the User Experience through Achievement Badges

Gamification of online surveys has been shown to be effective for improving user experience and data quality. However, the precise effects of isolated game elements is unknown and survey gamification requires a lot of effort. This work proposes the use of just a single game element as a novel low-cost approach. It presents evaluation results from a case study where an existing survey was gamified using the popular game element of achievement badges. Results show that the badges improved the user experience but did not influence the respondents' behavior. These benefits are similar to related work but have been achieved with a lower effort. In summary, the case study indicates our low-cost approach to be viable and efficient for survey gamification, and achievement badges to be well-suited for gamified online surveys.