Multiple panel membership ‘doesn't affect quality’

US— Respondents who are members of multiple panels are not necessarily a threat to data quality, according to results of a new study by the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF).

Findings of the study into duplication and overlap of online panel members concluded that multiple membership only has an impact on data quality when members take part in the same survey more than once.

Duplication rates when combining two panels – a realistic scenario for a survey – ranged from 2% to 19%, with the average “well below 10%”, the study said. However, for surveys taking place in localised markets the rate could be significantly higher.

Preliminary results of the Foundations of Quality research-on-research project, conducted across a broad array of online panels, were presented at the foundation’s annual Re:think conference in April. Yesterday saw the release of the first of several papers setting out the findings in full at a meeting of the foundation’s Online Research Quality Council (ORQC).

The paper was written by Bob Walker, president of research agency Surveys & Forecasts; together with the ARF’s chief research officer Joel Rubinson and senior vice president Raymond Pettit.

Further papers will look at survey response quality, inter-study comparability and benchmarking. The full industry report, incorporating all the papers, will be published later this year.

Committees of the ORQC focusing on industry solutions and metrics will review the results on overlap and duplication in panels to come up with principles, recommendations and guidelines for the industry, the foundation said.

We hope you enjoyed this article.
Research Live is published by MRS.

The Market Research Society (MRS) exists to promote and protect the research sector, showcasing how research delivers impact for businesses and government.

Members of MRS enjoy many benefits including tailoured policy guidance, discounts on training and conferences, and access to member-only content.

For example, there's an archive of winning case studies from over a decade of MRS Awards.

Find out more about the benefits of joining MRS here.

0 Comments

Display name

Email

Join the discussion

Newsletter
Stay connected with the latest insights and trends...
Sign Up
Latest From MRS

Our latest training courses

Our new 2025 training programme is now launched as part of the development offered within the MRS Global Insight Academy

See all training

Specialist conferences

Our one-day conferences cover topics including CX and UX, Semiotics, B2B, Finance, AI and Leaders' Forums.

See all conferences

MRS reports on AI

MRS has published a three-part series on how generative AI is impacting the research sector, including synthetic respondents and challenges to adoption.

See the reports

Progress faster...
with MRS 
membership

Mentoring

CPD/recognition

Webinars

Codeline

Discounts