INSIGHTS IN ACTION: THE FGI BLOG
Online Research Getting Tested By Big Spenders
As consumer research continues to migrate from traditional telephone calling and door-to-door surveys to online methods, the validity of online research continues to face the scrutiny of skeptics. According to an article in the New York Times entitled “Big Advertisers Agree to Tests of Online Research,” eight major advertising companies who spend a combined total of $500 million a year on market research have agreed to take part in a test looking at the quality of online research.
While some may question the accuracy of online research due to sample bias and the risks from “professional responders,” there’s no doubt that this tool has become a much quicker way to initially evaluate the marketplace and consumer reaction compared to the traditional methods alone. But, some skeptics have a valid point in that online research alone isn’t always the best answer. Better solutions can often be found by combining online surveys with online communities, social media mining, online focus groups and even telephone interviewing.
Ashton Smith
Social Media Intern
FGI Research
November 18th, 2009 at 8:51 am
Good post. I agree. Many studies yield flawed results when cost is the only sample/mode decision driver. Sometimes the nature of the custom research / full service research study requires RDD phone sample even when it’s twice the cost of a web study. Other times, web sample is fine. In still other cases, the web might be best but you can only get the sample via phone. Finally, a custom panel can be a great source of sample for the right types of studies. In the end, you need to trust your marketing research partner to make sample/mode recommendations based on what’s best for your study, not just offering the lowest cost.
November 19th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
You are spot on, Wesley. Clients want the cheapest, fastest, and best quality for everything. The problem is, you can’t always get all 3!! While the web survey is certainly the cheapest and fastest, no matter what quality control practices you implement to catch the ‘professional surveytakers’, you will always have some measure of data quality compromised. In the end, cheaper sometimes just yields cheaper results — the best practice for marketing researchers in the future will involve multi-modal approaches utilizing online communities, quantitative web/phone/mail studies, online focus groups, etc…