ARF to probe online research quality

US-- The Advertising Research Foundation has formed The Online Research Quality Council in a bid to ‘develop a set of standards for research buyers and sellers to follow.'

The council has been established to develop metrics for the acceptable panellist response rates, contact rates, survey duration, sampling criteria and ‘any other dimensions that can be shown to impact quality.' The council will also examine sample balancing methodologies, panel management techniques, incentives, and data collection methods.

The council will convene at its first meeting on 10 September. The council aims to deliver a draft set of global panel standards at the ARF Annual Convention in April 2008.

The Coca-Cola Company has been among the clients to offer the initiative its backing. Stan Sthananathan, vice-president for knowledge and insight said: “The rigor and discipline that characterised sampling plans of the 70s and 80s is missing in the online era. Are the control mechanisms that we have in place adequate to ensure quality? What is the equivalent of traditional back checking in the online research era?”

The steering committee is made up of TNS' Robert Tomei, Ipsos Interactive's Efrain Ribeiro, The NPD Group's Steve Coffey, Comscore's Josh Chasin, Synovate's Johnathan Jephcott and Harris Interactive's Renee Smith.

Tomei commenting on the initiative said: “The market research industry has a significant opportunity to establish and implement standards around online panels that would provide our clients with an objective method to evaluate the quality of the information we are delivering on an ongoing basis. It is a unique and distinctive opportunity to work with my colleagues on the Steering Council and the Council and to have key clients actively participate in the process to establish key quality metrics and practices.”

In explaining the rationale behind the initiative Bob Barocci, president and CEO of the ARF said: “The ‘good, fast, cheap...pick any two' syndrome has jeopardized the client credibility of online access panels. This trend, combined with the rise of online communities and blogs, has increased the rate of individuals conducting research online without applying statistical methodologies or research techniques essential to quality. To ensure that we approach this issue aggressively, we've invited top executives from major market research firms, advertisers and agencies to participate in this council that come from organizations committed to the highest level of quality research.”

Research-Live will carry further reaction and comment tomorrow.

Author: Marc Brenner