May 3, 2011

No market researcher would dispute that one of the biggest benefits of online panels is the speed of data collection. Researchers can quickly launch online surveys over several hours or multiple days, testing any number of ideas within a finely-tuned demographic. This nearly instantaneous access to consumer insights gives businesses a greatly expanded ability to factor consumer input into important decision-making.

With speed, however, comes risk. Rapid online data collection can deliver inferior data if done haphazardly or without a solid methodology. The field duration, for example, can potentially undermine an otherwise representative sample, a challenge for market researchers who want to tap the inherent value of just-in-time data collection.

These challenges prompted Lightspeed Research to conduct research-on-research examining the potential pitfalls of field timing, including addressing the appropriate field durations for online studies.

The field duration research tested five concepts.  Each concept had five separate samples, one launched each day of the week from Monday to Friday. Respondents had seven days from the day the sample launched to respond. Findings include the following:

• It is NOT necessary to include both weekends and weekdays in the field period to have a representative sample;
• The field should remain open at least four days to get a representative sample; and
• It does NOT matter what day of the week the field starts.

The research shows that a field period should be at least four days to ensure a representative sample and more accurate data. Day of launch does not impact data, nor does day of response (weekend vs. weekday). In the end, it’s clear that a four-day field period should be the minimum to ensure quality data; any less and speed starts to become an enemy of data quality.

To learn more about Susan’s findings, read her Lightspeed Ahead newsletter article, “”

Category:Data Quality, Research on Research
Posted on May 3, 2011



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