Clients Seek Transparency from Online Researchers

A group of research buyers from some of America's leading corporations is considering proposals which would create transparency guidelines for online sample; and revive the practice of providing technical appendices with study results.

Initial recommendations produced by a committee of more than 40 research agencies and online panel providers in April were presented to around thirty client-side researchers at a 'closed-door' client congress hosted by MR industry information service RFL Communications last week.

According to RFL President Bob Lederer: 'The issue is not whether research data is generally 'good' - no one is suggesting that it isn't, or that it needs to be perfect. The problem is that many clients aren't clear on the specific contents of what they're buying. Adhering to some basic transparency guidelines, attaching a technical appendix to every research project and tracking the results over time should help research clients and their agency partners achieve higher quality.'

Both the transparency guidelines and the technical appendix have been designed to offer clients consistency and a standard for comparison across research projects by tapping into information that research agencies already collect or can easily obtain.

Lederer says that the information in the technical appendix and transparency guidelines will enable clients to easily and inexpensively run their own diagnostics and conduct their own research-on-research.

Almost everyone who attended the client congress indicated they would review the platforms with their respective departments and be likely to adopt some or all of the proposals. Several research buyers are also collaborating on refinements, particularly regarding technical appendices. More announcements are expected in the coming weeks.

Web site: www.rflonline.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.