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APRIL 1998
A growing appreciation for panel study efficiencies
Panel Research-An Overview
by Heidi Hackett
BETA Research holds more than 50 custom panels-subscriber panels for consumer and business publications, as well as customer panels for manufacturers/service providers-and this number is growing.
This growth has been fueled by greater awareness and appreciation of positive panel attributes, such as:
- Quick turnaround
- High response rates, resulting in higher data reliability, and lower cost-per-response
- Precise targeting ability, based on demographics, purchase level, and other parameters, increases usable sample and study incidence
- Panelists are willing to respond to longer surveys, making panel studies an economical alternative to repetitive, single-focus studies
- Results are projectable to the subscriber/customer population from which the panel is derived
- A readily accessible window to the customers mind
- Changes in opinions and actions may be tracked over time
The ability to track changes in a customer population over time is one of the great advantages of panel research. Whether it is a matter of changing opinions, shifts in purchasing or readership, the panel can detect changes that might not be found if a different group of individuals formed the sample at each interval.
At least four types of sequences can be obtained and examined with periodic measurements of variables:
- Changes over time for each variable
- Correlation between variables and then changes over time
- Conditional relations (especially differences between variable correlation, and sub-groups that vary by a qualifying variable)
- Concurrent changes of two or more variables
Why do panelists agree to participate? Primarily, it is because they are offered incentives for ongoing participation (whether money, products, or other incentive). Additionally, a psychological set of factors is at work. In becoming a panelist, there is a feeling of belonging, relationship-building, and a sense of satisfaction that this direct communication with a company will improve the products/services offered. In other words, the panelists opinion is important, and will make a difference.
PANEL CAVEATS
With the use of panels, several caveats must be addressed. The first is that use of product incentives may bias a panelist in favor of that product; therefore, thought must go into the choice of incentive to keep it as neutral as possible. Second, it may be argued that panels may not offer a true cross-section of the population, due to three factors:
- The interest level of panelists in a given product, activity, or idea, may be higher than that of the population, based on the fact that they have expressed an interest in joining a panel.
- Replenishment of panelists due to attrition may alter panel profiles somewhat.
- It may be suggested that panelists, who are made highly conscious about the matters on which they furnish information, become conditioned in ways that make them atypical of the population.
These concerns are all manageable, and care is taken to minimize their effects. For example, to alleviate the effect of conditioning, no panelist should be exposed to more than a specified number of surveys each year.
Additionally, the impact of these factors does not appear to be significant if the panel database is carefully managed from the beginning (including the development of a proper and relevant screening survey), and throughout the life of the panel (including record updates, replenishment, and variable balancing). The meticulous care that is taken with each custom panel database is the key to sustained panel research success.
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