Website offers money-making tips for respondents

A new website has been launched in the US advising people on how they can make money out of completing online surveys. The news is likely to spark more debate about the dangers posed by ‘professional respondents’.

The website – www.bandeeni.com – reviews and rates other sites that charge people a small fee to access databases.

These databases contain contact information for market research companies that allow people to sign-up to their internet panels and who then pay incentives for completed questionnaires.

Darren Noyce, managing director of Skopos UK – which runs an invite-only internet panel – acknowledged the fact that the industry “needs to encourage people in any way to take part in research”.

Although he disagreed with websites charging people to access their MR contact database, he told Research: “We have to be pragmatic. We have often abused respondents in the past by either misleading them or not rewarding them for their time.

“At least with online panels, we are having to be upfront about incentives. You could never say that’s a bad thing unless respondents are lying or changing their answers in order to qualify for a survey.”