The one-page document sets out guidelines for sample quality, survey quality and best practices. The firm encouraged research suppliers to include a copy of the guidelines in requests for proposals.

Members of the council include Research Now, General Mills, Microsoft, Proctor & Gamble, Unilever and Western Wats. MarketTools’ TrueSample online panel-cleaning technology uses a combination of validation techniques, digital fingerprinting and de-duplication technology to ensure that respondents are who they say they are, and to prevent them from taking the same survey twice.

Procter & Gamble’s Maria Cristina Gomez said: “The TrueSample Quality Council has taken a giant leap forward toward the development of an industry standard for online research quality. The guidelines issued today will be immediately useful to research buyers to define quality, and to research vendors to deliver it.”

The MarketTools initiative is one of several online research quality initiatives to have been set up in recent years. In July GfK and Kantar teamed up to launch the Promedius Group, a not-for-profit consortium offering research buyers and suppliers access to a suite of tools to ensure quality in online research.

The Advertising Research Foundation introduced the Online Research Quality Council (ORQC) in 2007. Yesterday, the ARF announced the creation of a new “super council” to provide its various quality initiatives, including the online council, with leadership and guidance.