Online Research ! Can gather results for low-incidence populations ! Can reach participants virtually anywhere ! Reduces/Eliminates travel costs ! Fast turnaround
of Online Research ! Tip One: The business issue dictates the approach to the research. " Do you need a precise or directional answer? " Is the timeline urgent or not? " Are there any biases that would affect the research study?
of Online Research ! Tip Two: Recruit respondents; don’t allow people to join voluntarily. " Retain control of your research sample " Avoid self-selection bias " Avoid professional respondents
of “Professional Respondents” ! The average Online Panel volunteer belongs to 8 other online panels. ! 30% of all online surveys are completed by just 0.25% of the population ! In 2004, a typical Professional Respondent took an average 80 online surveys during a period of just 90 days
of Online Research ! Tip Three: Purely online research cannot be considered representative of the general public. " There remains a significant portion (30-35%) of the overall population that lacks email or Internet access.
of Online Research ! Tip Four: Just because research is being conducted online, that doesn’t mean you can forget everything else you know and have learned about conducting research. " The requirements for successful research are independent of the research environment.
Online Quantitative Research Accuracy ! Coverage Bias: If those without Internet access cannot participate, data will be skewed; all online opt-in panels exclude the non-Internet population. ! Self-Selection Bias: When respondents choose themselves (i.e., opt in or volunteer) — rather than being chosen as part of a random sample — then it becomes impossible to project research findings to larger or other populations. ! Non-Response Bias: Frequently in online opt-in research, a small fraction of those invited actually participate, and little effort is made to convert nonresponders. ! Respondent Maintenance: Nonparticipating respondents need to be identified and removed from the results analysis; but some types of online research — such as online opt-in panels — often allow nonparticipating members to be considered members, even after they have not participated or answered anything in a significant length of time. ! Respondent Engagement: A strong effort must be made to keep respondents attentive and involved in the online environment, and help them troubleshoot in real time during survey taking. ! Replicability of Results: As with quantitative scientific research, results cannot be considered valid if repeating the research process produces completely different results.
! ResearchInfo.com has a number of resources for conducting online market research, including: " Directory of Online Research Vendors " Evaluations and demo versions of numerous online research software packages " Tutorial for creating online survey content " Market research calculators (for determining incidence, confidence level, etc.)
Research Resources ! American Marketing Association: www.marketingpower.com ! The Advertising Research Foundation: www.thearf.org ! The Council of American Survey Research Organization: www.casro.org ! ESOMAR (World Association of Research Professionals): www.esomar.nl ! VALS Psychographic Segmentation Service: www.sric-bi.com/vals ! An Online Survey Research website: www.insightexpress.com ! Product Development innovation and collaboration: www.knowledge-roundtable.com ! Database of 30,000 Market Research Reports (for purchase): www.marketresearch.com ! The Market Research Association: www.mra-net.org