Using a key theory of psychoanalysis (Transactional Analysis), this paper analyses the way we run our online panels. It points out that a lot of the problems we are experiencing (declining response rates, professional respondents, etc.) are potentially a direct result of 'crossed transactions' between panel owners and panel participants. It discusses examples of how our relationship could be improved and shows how new technologies may help us realign our relationship to be on a more sustainable (and Adult&Adult) basis.
The pop-up survey has been one of the most positive contributions to web site research in the brief history of Internet research. The technique became widely used after the pioneering work of Micael Dahlen (1998) on the Swedish web site Passagen. So what is a pop-up survey and what are its benefits? A pop-up survey is a web-based questionnaire that appears in a new browser window as a person uses a web site. The survey itself is invoked by placing some JavaScript code in the web page. The same type of scripting is regularly seen on the web now to display in to interstitial adverts or to provide users of web sites with the additional information (e.g. pop-up help screens or search boxes). It has become popular for two main reasons. Firstly it is a proper sampling method (unlike self-selecting feedback boxes on web sites) and secondly because of the good response rates that can be obtained.
This paper summarises the changes that have and are taking place in research agencies around Europe. It describes how agencies have progressed from a pre-technology era through a basic technology era and are now about to go into a technology revolution era. It describes some of the changes that are about to take place in the technology era in terms of external communications data delivery fieldwork internal communications and office efficiency. It also reports on the results of a survey of 283 research agencies in the United Kingdom Germany Italy France and The Netherlands and their current state of information technology (IT) development.
The purpose of this paper is to show how the Internet can and has been used commercially to conduct research. It also aims to provide guidelines for future studies.
The paper examines current and future Internet usage in Europe. It discusses how the Internet is beginning to be used for data collection in market research and its benefits over other methods. More specifically it shows the results of Internet opinion polls conducted prior to the 1997 general election in the United Kingdom. Not only did these polls show exactly the same trends on conventional polls during the election period, but they also accurately predicted the final outcome. The results clearly support the likelihood that the Internet will become an established method of data collection of the future, although the representativeness of the sample for mainstream research is still an issue.
The paper describes the results of one of the first commercial surveys to be conducted in the United Kingdom over the Internet. It directly compares email and postal methods of data collection. The results show a major advantage for email in terms of both speed and cost of data collection. Response rates were similar for email and conventional methods and there was no evidence of lower quality. Recommendations are made for the style of future Internet surveys and circumstances when they might be appropriate. The direct use of the Internet for the New Marketing is also explored.