|
|
|
Home | Marketing Research Services | Online Research | Panel Management
Panel Management
A panel is a living organism. It must be cultivated and nurtured to survive and flourish. All of Decision Analyst’s online panels (including custom
client panels) are actively managed and nurtured “communities,” not just databases. We heavily invest in systems and processes that ensure our panels
are valid and reliable, so we can ensure our data and recommendations are valid and reliable.
Panel Membership
- All of Decision Analyst’s panels are double opt-in.
- All Decision Analyst’s panels are used exclusively for marketing research, except the Imaginators® panel, which is used for ideation and innovation projects.
- All of our panel members are rewarded for surveys and screeners. The longer the survey, the greater the incentive.
Recruiting
- Respondents are recruited by a variety of media and methods: mail, phone, radio, television, magazines, newspapers, social media, and the Internet. An important
component of recruiting efforts is the continuous advertising on over 2,000 different websites as a major source of new panelists.
Privacy Policies
- Each panel has its own privacy policy. These privacy policies, in general, promise panelists that their answers to surveys will be anonymous and confidential,
that the results will be used only for research purposes, that their names and personal information will not be shared with or used by any other organization
or party, and that they will be rewarded for every survey. The policies also state that Decision Analyst will adhere to all laws and regulations of governmental
entities, including COPPA and HIPAA. Decision Analyst was the first U.S. research company to qualify for certification under the Safe Harbour Agreement between
the U.S. and the European Union, and remains a party to that agreement.
- All panels are compliant with ESOMAR and CASRO standards and regulations.
Panel Management
- Our panels are whitelisted by all of the world’s major Internet service providers (ISPs). Plus, ISPs are monitored during surveys to make sure survey
invitations are delivered.
- Icion® panel tracking software monitors members’ participation in surveys, and inactive members are deleted from the panels.
- Panel members have complete control of their membership accounts and can log in at any time to update, modify, or delete their information. After completing surveys,
panelists are asked to review and update their membership accounts. Additionally, all members of each panel are asked to update their membership accounts once a
year.
- Our panels are screened periodically for product/service usage, covering such topics as car ownership and type, shopping habits, eating-out habits, beverages
used, pet ownership, medical ailments, and credit cards owned, etc.
- Panel members have restrictions on how often they can be contacted. No panel member can take more than two surveys per month (once a panelist takes a survey,
he/she is excluded for two weeks from all other samples). Our typical panel member takes three to five surveys per year.
- Once the target audience for a survey is determined, a sample is pulled to represent that audience. Samples are defined and pulled via Icion®, our multivariate
sampling software. Samples are balanced by geographic region, county size, and target demographics. Within each cell of the sample, respondent selection is random.
- Logician® (our proprietary survey software) provides extraordinary capabilities to set and manage quotas within surveys, and accurately control cell assignments
and augments.
- Decision Analyst carefully tracks surveys by topic/category. Panelists who participate in a study on a particular product category are automatically excluded
for six months from participating in a study for the same category.
- An online help desk is available 24/7 to provide assistance to respondents during surveys.
Fraud Protection
- Decision Analyst uses digital fingerprinting technology to verify all respondents’ identities.
- Our panels are rigorously and continuously cleaned by computer systems looking for registration errors, duplicate registrations, false information during registration,
etc.
- Screening questionnaires and survey questionnaires contain “traps” to catch cheaters and sloppy respondents, who are then deleted from our panels.
- As open-end questions in surveys are coded, respondents who appear to be cheating and/or answering questions in a haphazard manner are deleted from the
study and from our panels.
- During the tabulation process, a series of quality-assurance processes are employed to look for suspicious responses (straight-line answers, taking the survey
too quickly, inconsistent answers, etc.). Problem respondents are deleted from the study and from our panels.
- For the specialty panels (such as Physicians Advisory Council® and Executive Advisory Board®, etc.), each panel member’s occupation is verified.
- A database of “cheaters” is maintained, so that these individuals will be prevented from registering to become a member of any Decision Analyst
panel again.
Deployment
- Once a questionnaire is finalized, an online project can be programmed and ready to launch in 24 to 48 hours. The typical project takes two to four days
to launch (from approval of the final questionnaire). Much of this time is spent on quality-assurance processes and procedures.
- All samples are randomized, divided into multiple batches, and then launched and monitored by batch. Reminder emails are sent to nonresponders within each
batch on the third day. Samples are controlled by geographic area, time zone, and response rate to ensure a nationally representative sample.
Online Research Services
If you would like more information on Online Research, please contact Jerry W. Thomas, President/CEO (jthomas@decisionanalyst.com),
or call 1-800-ANALYSIS (262-5974) or 1-817-640-6166.
Additional Resources from Decision Analyst
Online Research Brochures
Online Research Case Histories
Online Research White Papers
|
|
