Posts Tagged ‘Internet’
Thursday, April 1st, 2010
Ten years ago, surveys through online panels were rare. Mostly we conducted telephone surveys. Today it is the other way around. With online survey panels being a $2 billion industry in the U.S., there is now a wealth of comparative data to measure and assess the implications of using online surveys as a substitute for phone surveys.
The American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) convened a task force in the fall of 2008 to study online survey panels, and they have just released their report. It summarizes issues related to recruitment, panel maintenance, post-survey statistical adjustments, validity, and reliability.
Here is a summary of their conclusions and recommendations (quoted verbatim): (more…)
Tags: Data Collection, Internet, Online Panels, Online Surveys, Sampling
Posted in Data Collection, Methods & Tools, Online Surveys, Sampling | No Comments »
Thursday, February 25th, 2010
Telephone surveys are still considered the gold standard for rigorous public opinion polling and market research. The reason is that virtually every household in the U.S. can be reached by telephone, and therefore we have careful methods of determining the probability that any individual person is included in a sample to be surveyed. Knowing this probability is at the core of statistical inference, which makes mathematical purists very happy.
Here are the steps involved in conducting a rigorous “gold standard” telephone survey of the U.S. population: (more…)
Tags: Data Collection, Internet, Market Research, population, public opinion, Public Polls, Sampling
Posted in Data Collection, Future Trends, Market Research, Methods & Tools, Public Polls, Sampling | No Comments »
Friday, February 5th, 2010
A research article the Winter 2009 issue of Public Opinion Quarterly provided some useful comparisons of data quality between phone surveys and various types of online surveys. The findings are based on an experiment that fielded identical questionnaires via three survey modes, and, not surprisingly, there are strengths and weaknesses to each type of survey.
Phone vs. Online Surveys: Strengths & Weaknesses
As reflected in the table above, the article is rather technical. But there are two key summary points worth learning from the study: (more…)
Tags: bias, data quality, Internet, Online Surveys, phone surveys, population, Sampling, survey, survey respondents
Posted in Data Collection, Methods & Tools, Online Surveys, Sampling | No Comments »
Thursday, October 15th, 2009
Versta Research fields omnibus surveys, and we often recommend such surveys for our clients. But omnibus surveys do no not always save money or offer the insights that are needed, and so we often recommend inexpensive alternatives as well. (more…)
Tags: Data Collection, Internet, Market Research, omnibus, Online Surveys, Public Polls, value
Posted in Data Collection, Online Surveys, Public Polls, Public Relations | No Comments »
Wednesday, August 19th, 2009
Good open-ended questions and thoughtful responses to these questions can yield amazingly rich and insightful data. But given the generally poor quality of responses to open-ended question in mail surveys, some have speculated that open-ended questions in online surveys would suffer a similar fate.
Research seems to show this is not the case. Further, a study just published in the Summer 2009 issue of Public Opinion Quarterly outlines three ways that we can improve the quality of responses in on-line surveys:
(more…)
Tags: Data Collection, Internet, online, open-ends, research, survey, Survey Design, verbatims
Posted in Data Collection, Online Surveys, Survey Design, Survey Tips | No Comments »
Wednesday, August 12th, 2009
How to Add Value: Provide Insight and Understanding
In a provocative new book entitled What Would Google Do? author Jeff Jarvis claims that “Middlemen Are Doomed” because the Internet has made information so easy, accessible, and cheap. He argues that the Internet links buyers and sellers directly, and it allows buyers to get information and access to sellers instantaneously, rendering middlemen obsolete. Market researchers are middlemen who operate between businesses who need information about their customers, and the people (their customers and prospects) being interviewed about needs, attitudes, and behaviors. If Jarvis is right, what is the future for market research and public opinion polling?
(more…)
Tags: Data Collection, insight, Internet, Market Research, research, value
Posted in Data Collection, Future Trends, Market Research | No Comments »