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How Online Surveys Work

Research Using Online Panels:

F&A maintains relationships with companies who have developed Internet panels of people interested in participating in online research. Use of these types of panels provides the ability to select panelists based on known demographics and behaviors.

How it Works:

F&A hosts the online survey on secure servers. E-mail invitations are sent to appropriately targeted panelists, selected according to take the survey.

Panel Sourcing:

Panel recruitment uses a controlled mix of both online methods (e.g. solo e-mail invitations and other targeted online modes) and offline methods (e.g. physical post-card invitations, direct mail inserts, etc.), and has resulted in a geographically and demographically diverse panel.

In order to remain as balanced as possible, panel members have been recruited from a diverse set of consumer and business-to-business sources using a "by invitation only" approach. All panel establishment methodologies employed are 100% opt-in and fully comply with CASRO guidelines.

By employing the "by invitation only" approach, the panel can: 1) achieve higher levels of panel normalization, and 2) effectively avoid the "professional respondents" that affect some online research panels.

More Normalized:Certain panel companies cannot achieve the same level of normalization since their "open" recruitment methods do not allow them to determine the demographic make-up of their panel until after members have joined.

Less "Self Selection" Bias:

Panels that use "open" recruitment techniques such as multi-panel co-registration sites are allowing large-scale self-selection biases into their panels, attracting "professional survey takers" and causing a widespread amount of membership duplication across many other online panels. To reduce the potential for self-selection bias, panelists considered in this estimate may join only if they are first invited.

After an individual responds to an invitation and joins the panel, he or she completes a 300+ item member profile, which collects information about demographics, interests, life events, health ailments, various product purchase intent data and more.