The Survey Geek

Tag: Web Panels

  • Sample Blending

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    RegBaker
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    This is a euphemism coined by the good folks at Lightspeed Research for combining respondents from multiple panels into a single sample. This sometimes looks attractive when a single panel can’t deliver enough respondents either because of low incidence or a small geographic study area.  Sometimes "sample blending" is a deliberate design decision and, sadly,…

  • Web Panels: What Are They Good For?

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    RegBaker
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    This is essentially a query in my email today.  Its full text: "MSI has been using Internet panels such as e-Rewards for consumer research.  What should MSI’s response be to clients who question the bias associated with using these panels? " A good place to start is to conceive of an Internet panel as a…

  • The Professional Respondent Problem

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    RegBaker
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    One of the best papers at the ESOMAR Barcelona conference was presented by Brian Fine and his colleagues from AMR Interactive (an Australian research company) titled, "Attitudinal Differences: Comparing People Who Belong to Multiple Versus Single Panels. " I use the word "best" because it was one of two papers so designated by the Programme…

  • The Online Panel Rationale

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    RegBaker
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    The Barcelona conference was mostly a gathering of panel companies gathered together to talk about their business.  Randy Thomas of Harris Interactive and Programme Committee Chair wrote an interesting "editorial" that was delivered as a sort of Foreword to the set of published papers.  It provides a good concise statement of the rational for panels…

  • Are All Panels the Same?

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    RegBaker
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    This is one of the most pressing problems of the day and the answer seems more and more elusive.  Way back in 2005 a team at Stanford led by Doug Rivers (co-founder of Knowledge Networks) and Jon Krosnick (father of satisficing) compared seven different US panels and RDD telephone to look for straightforward mode effects…

  • Survey Geek Eats Crow

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    RegBaker
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    About six months ago we had a client do some major hand wringing about bad behavior by Web panelists.  She had been to some sort of session by people from the Burke Institute who had convinced her that Web panels were full of people misrepresenting themselves to qualify for surveys and then once in clicking…

  • Let’s Not Kill the Golden Goose Who Lays the Golden Eggs

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    RegBaker
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    This is a take-off on a paper title from the ESOMAR Panels Conference.  The golden goose is, of course, the panel respondent.  The theme of this paper and another as well is all about treating respondents better in online surveys.  Pete Comley, a Brit who worked as a psychologist before running a company called Virtual…

  • Panels 2006

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    RegBaker
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    I’ve just come back from Barcelona where I took part in the ESOMAR  Panels 2006 Conference.  Like its predecessor in Budapest in 2005, the conference was a worldwide gathering of researchers to talk about current issues facing panel developers and users.  And like its predecessor, it was first rate.  In future posts I will discuss…

  • A Perfect Storm

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    RegBaker
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    We may have a perfect storm brewing in the world of Web panels.  I’ve grabbed onto this often-used metaphor to describe the collision of three trends in MR, each of which is in direct opposition to the others. They are: Increasing client focus on panel quality.  The MR consulting firm Cambiar has reported in its…

  • Separating the Good from the Bad

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    RegBaker
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    It seems like every week I hear about a new Web panel.  One recent favorite whose name makes you wonder: www.your2cents.com.  Our Sampling folks work hard to stay on top of this and to sort out the contenders from the pretenders.CASRO has been threatening to develop some standards to help us sort out the good…