Q. Last time you talked about what’s new in Qualitative Research. Is there anything new in Quantitative?

A. Nothing completely new, but on-line surveys continue to become more sophisticated and easier to conduct for the user while also becoming less difficult to participate in for respondents.

The two types of on-line surveys I have done include:

• Known Respondent Surveys. If you have a list of known (and opted-in) e-mail addresses from customers, subscribers or employees, for example, you can survey them electronically. They are usually sent an e-mail from your company that contains a link to your survey. Drawback – Anonymity of the survey sponsor isn’t possible.
• Panel surveys. Many companies have panels of qualified respondents who will participate in surveys. These are people who have agreed to answer most surveys that are sent to them and who have provided a great deal of information about themselves, their buying habits, etc. to the company. Many very specific panels are available, as are “general population” panels. You can choose, for example, to only send your survey to people who have bought similar products, live in certain parts of the country, have a certain number or age of children, etc. There are also many professional panels (doctors, dentist, architects, engineers, etc.). Sponsor anonymity is possible in this type of study. Drawback – Using some of these panels can be pretty expensive.