The Internet is the newest methodology or mousetrap available to market researchers. Researchers disagree on how ready we are as an industry to move to on-line data collection. Questions abound about how representative the respondents we reach via the Internet are. Do we really know who our Internet respondents are? As a first step in answering these questions we conducted a side-by-side study among high-tech professionals. Respondents were randomly assigned to be interviewed via the phone or were asked to complete the survey via the Internet. Data collected by the two methods were compared and statistically tested for differences.
This paper has two aims: first, to send out a wake up call to us market researchers as a profession. If we don't want to fade into oblivion like the buggy whip,the time to begin a fundamental change of market research is now. And, secondly, to discuss some ways we might get there - to the future, that is. Traditionally, market research has provided clear, reliable pictures of today and yesterday. Our tools for predicting the future have been primarily limited to demand curves, price elasticity and data input to models. These tools have served us well for the last fifty years. But they are inadequate for the business environment that we will soon be facing. Our focus as an industry must realign our time frames. Tomorrow is the name of the game, tomorrow.