The Advantages of Online Primary Research
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Speed
Surveys can be completed in days, sometimes within hours of emailing invitations. -
Larger sample sizes for very little extra cost
Unlike a telephone survey which is very labour intensive, a web survey has a fixed labour cost. The cost of programming the survey and delivering the agreed upon final product is largely unaffected by sample size. Costs only rise with the sample size for three components.- Purchased access panel sample
- Length of time in field
- Coding open ended questions
Sampling Issues in Internet Research
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Representativeness of the sample
All sampling methodologies have some limitations preventing them from being 100% representative of any given population. Just as telephone studies have limitations due to the problem of unlisted numbers and cellular phones, and mailout surveys have problems such as restricted access buildings and bad mailing addresses, internet surveys also have limitations.
You can only claim to represent those who have access to the Internet either at home, at work or from some other location. However the last Statscan survey shows around 80% of people 16+ in Canada are online.
Online studies are representative of populations of online users or subpopulations of Internet Users. Using internet based studies is often viewed as appropriate for populations perceived to be hi-tech users or in many business-to-business studies, as these populations will likely be Internet users.
Online stuides cannot and likely will never be able to claim to represent the entire country's population, or all adults 35-50 years of age, or any other population that may have a significant proportion of non-Internet users. However, similar things can be said of all methodologies.
Solutions to the Sampling Issues
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Combined methodologies
Dufferinn Research can combine CATI, Self-Completed Mail and Web methodologies thereby passing on the speed and cost savings of Internet Research for those respondents with Internet access and still offer the option to do a telephone survey or self-completed mail survey. This type of survey, if designed properly, can be considered representative of the entire population.
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Use Internet surveys for appropriate populations
Internet research is not a replacement for all other methods of surveys. It is appropriate for many studies but not all. We can advise you on the appropriateness of this methodology on a study by study basis.
