In addition to controlling access to online surveys, it is also important to ensure that your results are not skewed by respondents who did not answer questions seriously or truthfully. Here are a few tips to ensure that your final data contains quality responses from valid respondents.
The ever-increasing use of online surveys for market research has produced the unfortunate consequence of some survey respondents who are more interested in receiving a reward (incentive) for completing the survey than they are with providing accurate, thoughtful survey responses. These people are often referred to as “Professional Respondents.” Although they represent only a small minority of survey respondents, it only takes a few such people to skew your results.
Here are some methods you can use to reduce the odds of having respondents try to “game the system.”
- Use a reputable panel with a strong (and published) set of verification standards. (For more information, see
How to find respondents for your online survey (Part 2: Survey Panels) - Implement deterrents such as a legal/fraudulent access agreement that a respondent agree to comply with before they completing the survey.
- Examine the data to identify fraudulent or irresponsible responses. For example, on a series of rating scale questions a pattern such as 7,7,7,7,7 or 1,2,3,4,5,1,2,3,4,5 may indicate this. Note that many full-featured survey systems (as opposed to the free or low-cost ones) use computer programs to identify and remove such responses.
- Thoroughly check the final data (e.g., compare questions where the answers should not conflict, and review responses to open-ended questions).
The bottom line: a little extra effort to prevent fraudulent or irresponsible respondents from skewing your online survey data will significantly increase your confidence in the validity and accuracy of the results.
