TNS to adopt 'Six Degrees of Online Quality' from panel recruitment to validating the quality of the final results - introduces system at ESOMAR Panel Research 2007 Conference
November 18th 2007 - TNS is urging the market research industry to continue seeking ways of delivering maximum quality in online research and has introduced a new global quality program called the 'Six Degrees of Online Quality'. To be implemented by TNS in 2008, the 'Six Degrees of Online Quality' covers all phases of the research process from panel recruitment methods to validating the quality of the final results.
An online panel is a group of individuals - either professionals or general public - made up of members of a specific category of the population, for example lawyers, physicians, car dealers, elderly, ... who participate in market research studies online. Respondents become "panelists" by completing a profiling questionnaire. The data collected includes demographics, lifestyle characteristics and media habits, which provides a basis for future survey participation.
Speaking at the ESOMAR Panel Research 2007 Conference in Orlando, Florida today, Jon Briggs and Mark Walton - both TNS regional directors for online research in Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East and Africa - underlined that effective online research can only be delivered through an integrated and rigorous quality programme, covering every stage of the research process.
Specifically, TNS recommended these 'Six Degrees of Online Quality' procedures should be embedded into the online research process:
Building a panel: adopting a variety of techniques to carefully analyse the calibre and motivation of every single person joining a panel.
Panel management: applying long-established best practice to actively manage panels through initiatives such as capping panel sizes, removing inactive panel members, and ensuring participating members are properly motivated.
Sampling techniques: delivering balanced, qualified, eligible and relevant samples to best meet the needs of particular projects.
Questionnaire design: ensuring that the wording, content and overall strategy of a survey contributes to higher data quality, and that protocols are in place to facilitate accurate completion of long surveys.
Quality of data captured and reported: vetting the locations of survey participants and how long they spend in completing a survey, and checking surveys visually to ensure the questions have been carefully answered.
Panel reporting: providing clients with a breakdown after a survey is completed of key quality metrics such as the response rate and the number of participants that were rejected either at the panel recruitment stage or at a later phase in the survey.
Jon Briggs, TNS Regional Director, 6thdimension™ Interactive Research, said: "As the leader in customized research and the industry's leading online access panel company, clients expect that we will deliver a panel that is fully representative of the population they are measuring. TNS is leading the industry in implementing the highest level of quality with regard to building and maintaining panels. However, in addition to the quality of our panels, TNS believes it is just as important to have standards around other aspects of the studies we develop for our clients, including questionnaire design and data reporting. In the end, clients expect us to deliver the highest level of quality throughout the entire process - end to end. As the industry develops new approaches to conducting online research such as online communities and using customer and employee databases, it is just as important that this 'end-to-end' approach to quality is fully developed and implemented."
Mark Walton, TNS Regional Director, 6thdimension Interactive Research, said: "Achieving quality throughout the online process is critical for our industry and TNS fully supports the work of ESOMAR and other organizations (such as the recently formed ARF Online Research Quality Council*) in this area. The 'Six Degrees of Online Quality' procedures we are recommending reflect the experience we have gained in a range of emerging markets - such as China, Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates. We have also found that the processes we have developed are equally applicable to more established markets such as Australia, Europe, Japan and the United States."
In 2005, online research generated revenues of US$ 1.6 billion, so it is still only small fraction of the overall market information industry, but it is growing fast and we expect it to become a significant mode of research, globally, in the medium term. With the introduction of the new Middle East panels, TNS 6thdimension panels will soon be available across 30 countries, with over 3.6 million active panelists across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East, opening up new opportunities and research tools for marketers and policy makers. TNS will soon have 10,000 respondents panel in UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Robert I. Tomei*, EVP and Global Director of TNS 6thdimension Access Panels, said: "Our three 'centers of excellence' put TNS in a unique position to deploy best proven practices and innovative solutions to the benefit of our clients, from one region or country to another in an effective and efficient manner. Our 'Six Degrees of Online Quality' system is one example of how we will do this, and underlines that we have strict rules on how we use online respondents. "
In 2008, TNS will launch a new platform for consistent development and management of its 6thdimension access panels worldwide from one central data-center location. This new platform will provide clients with consistent panelist profiles, improved sampling processes and timing, and uniform data quality reports to demonstrate the integrity of TNS panels.
Mr Tomei added: "Governed by industry-leading quality standards, our online access panels are carefully managed, cost-effective resources that support both the Custom and Syndicated businesses within TNS. As a source of intellectual property providing integrated and innovative insights, our panels are at the core of the value we bring to clients and part of TNS's platform for growth."
"In Middle East forming an access panel (www.mysurvey.ae) is of utmost importance due to such a diverse society. Hence we at TNS are taking highest level of precaution to make the panel representative of the online population. Middle East as a market has been identified as a highly important online market by TNS due its inherent challenges of capturing data. We are already in consultation with our global premier clients to set up proprietary and access panels to bring them consumer insights at a faster pace and a richer form." Kaushal Upadhyay, Group Account Director 6D
Copyright© 2007 TNS All Rights Reserved.
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Note to Editors:
Robert I. Tomei is the first and current chairperson of the ARF (Advertising Research Foundation) Online Research Quality Council headquartered in the United States.
6thdimension is the world's leading network of fully managed online access panels that in 2008 will be in up to 30 countries collecting insights from some 3.6 million people, providing clients with insights that address issues from launching a new product to measuring attitude and usage. 6thdimension access panels give clients across all major business sectors the confidence to act on research through insights that are thorough and reliable. A history of innovation means we can safely say TNS is 'the world's leading panel research company'. In fact, we have honed and developed our panel research skills since 1937.
Our 6thdimension managed access panels provide our clients with quality sample to help them:
access their new product developments
- understand customer satisfaction and commitment
- testing marketing messages
- evaluating the market and measuring attitude and usage.
About TNS
TNS is a global market insight and information group.
Our strategic goal is to be recognised as the global leader in delivering value-added information and insights that help our clients to make more effective decisions.
As industry thought leaders, our people deliver innovative thinking and excellent service to global organisations and local clients worldwide. We work in partnership with our clients, meeting their needs for high-quality information, analysis and foresight across our network of over 70 countries.
We are the world's foremost provider of custom research and analysis, combining in-depth industry sector understanding with world-class expertise in the areas of Retail and Shopper Insights, Stakeholder Management, New Product Development, and Brand and Communications. We are a major supplier of consumer panel, media intelligence and internet, TV and radio audience measurement services.
TNS is the sixth sense of business.
www.tnsglobal.com
Other links relevant to this release:
www.esomar.org
www.thearf.org
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© Press Release 2007
