NEWS11 September 2009
US— According to new data from the Advertising Research Foundation, there is “no clear pattern” of telephone research based on random samples providing more accurate results than surveys conducted using online panels.
The ARF’s chief research officer Joel Rubinson revealed the data from the organisation’s Foundations of Quality study in his blog.
Comparing the representation of various demographic groups in US Census data with samples for a mail survey of 1,500 people, a random-digit dial telephone survey of 1,000 people, and 100,000 interviews conducted online using 17 different panel providers, Rubinson said: “There is no clear pattern of RDD providing the more accurate answer vs the average result from internet panel research on a series of benchmarking questions and demographics.”
The biggest failures of the telephone sample were in the age of respondents and the usage of cellphones – a problem he put down to the increasing number of “cell-onlys”.
“Even in the world of political polling,” Rubinson said, “RDD interviewing methods can produce very different results and might not be as accurate as well-designed online research”.
If proper practices are implemented he claimed there is no reason online research cannot produce “comparable, consistent and accurate” data.
Rubinson said the ARF will be unveiling a recommended quality assurance process for buyers and sellers of research at an open meeting later this month.