In Part 1 of this 3-part series, we learned that 87 percent of online surveys conducted in the United States in 2006 were deployed using a preexisting survey panel. In this installment, we will explore why panels are the preferred method for online interviewing and how to select a panel provider for a market research project.
Online Survey Panels
Survey panels are the main source of respondents for online research. Increased use of the Internet as an interviewing method has both been enabled by and caused demand for increased availability of panels.
Panels are collections of people who have agreed to take part in periodic surveys. Panel companies typically collect a variety of profiling information about members, including demographics, product ownership and usage, hobbies, and areas of interest. Because this information is already known, panel surveys can be more easily targeted to the appropriate respondents. Consequently, compared to other interviewing methods, panels typically produce benefits not only in the speed of data collection but also in lower costs.
In the United States, there are many survey panel providers. These companies can differ widely with respect to:
- Numbers of members
- Types of members (consumers, professionals, etc.)
- Methods for recruiting members
- Services offered
- Sample
- Invitations
- Programming
- Hosting
- Analysis
- Reporting
- Incentives for panelists
- Maximum length of surveys
- Number of surveys panelists can complete in a given period of time
Trying to select the right panel provider for a particular market research study can be a daunting task. One of the benefits of working with a full-service market research supplier is that a good supplier should have the knowledge and expertise to select the ideal panel provider for your project. This can both streamline the process and reduce the risks of selecting an inadequate panel provider.
If you are not working with a market research company that can match your project with an appropriate panel, here is a list of questions you may find useful in evaluating potential panel providers. This list was developed by the European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research (ESOMAR), which recommends asking these 25 questions of each panel provider before placing work with them.
- Is it an actively managed panel (nurtured community) or just a database?
- Truthfully, how large is it?
- What is the percentage of “active” members and how are they defined?
- Where are the respondents sourced from and how are they recruited?
- Have members clearly opted-in? If so, was this double opt-in?
- What exactly have they been asked to opt-in to?
- What do panel members get in return for participating?
- Is the panel used solely for market research?
- Is there a Privacy Policy in place? If so, what does it state?
- What research industry standards are complied with?
- Is the panel compliant with all regional, national and local laws with respect to privacy, data protection and children e.g. EU Safe Harbour, and COPPA in the United States? (Provide hotlinks for reference)
- What basic socio-demographic profile information, usership, interests data, etc. is kept on members?
- How often is it updated?
- In what other ways can users be profiled (e.g. source of data)?
- What is the (minimum and typical) turn-around time from initial request to first deployment of the emails to activate a study?
- What are likely response rates and how is response rate calculated?
- Are or can panel members who have recently participated in a survey on the same subject be excluded from a new sample?
- Is a response rate (over and above screening) guaranteed?
- How often are individual members contacted for market research or anything else in a given time period?
- How is the sample selection process for a particular survey undertaken?
- Can samples be deployed as batches/replicates, by time zones, geography, etc? If so, how is this controlled?
- Is the sample randomized before deployment?
- Can the time of sample deployment be controlled and, if so, how?
- Can panel members be directed to specific sites for the survey questionnaire to be undertaken?
- What guarantees are there to guard against bad data i.e. respondent cheating or not concentrating/caring in their responses (e.g. click happy)?
The bottom line: Survey panels are widely used for online surveys because they offer a number of benefits over other recruiting methods. However, selecting the right panel provider for your project can be a difficult task.
In the final part of this 3-part series, we will focus on another common source of sample for online surveys: Customer Lists.
