Growth in research but some fear findings meaningless

AUSTRALIA is leading the world in the move to conduct market research online rather than by telephone or on the street, but the sector's growth is raising concerns about dodgy research practices.

The Australian sector is worth about $600 million, with more than 30 per cent of surveys now completed by respondents online - the US figure is 19 per cent. There were forecasts this week that online research would rocket to 50 per cent of the market within two years.

The rapid growth has led to warnings about quality of research panels and bias in findings as Australian and international players rush to establish a presence.

The managing director of STW's newly formed Online Research Unit, Brian Fine, said Australia's preparedness to embrace cheaper and more efficient research studies would see online panels account for more than 50 per cent of projects within two years, but added there was an increasing risk of meaningless findings.

Mr Fine said there were about 35 online panels in Australia, some of which were direct marketing databases or panels with questionable compositions.

"I don't want to cast doubt on all panels but people should ask tough questions about how people were recruited for these panels," he said. "Some of them are not weighted to the Australian population. They're more likely to have people not working or working part-time, they're more likely to have beer drinkers than wine drinkers and more likely to be smokers. There are issues with some panels and in some cases many are compiled using amalgamators. The result is you end up with the same people on multiple panels.

"We're seeing a huge growth curve in the industry but we must be sure we can deliver quality results."

Source: http://business.smh.com.au/growth-in-research-but-some-fear-findings-meaningless/20080305-1x81.html