We write for Quirk’s about our new data quality research-on-research

There are many factors that weigh into achieving data quality in market research, an issue that is persistent, evolving and complex. Our CEO Patrick Stokes recently wrote for Quirk's Media about one of these issues: the effect of audience demographics, characteristics and behaviors on market research outcomes. 

Based on our latest research-on-research project, the article examines some of our findings surrounding the potential for response differences based on various profile points. We partnered with DM2: Digital Marketing and Measurement for the study and used their proprietary Qscore methodology to determine sample provider and respondent quality and characteristics. This approach leverages trackable, quality-oriented question sets perfected over many years of research in this space. 

Patrick writes about our findings surrounding the potential for response differences based on traditional audience demographics such as age and gender; the type of device used to answer the survey questions; self-reported behaviors and personality types; and other key indicators. Specifically, we uncovered things such as: mobile survey taking continues to negatively affect quality; characteristics such as political leanings and education levels show a bell-shaped curve with moderates in each category providing the highest quality responses; impacts of age and gender on data quality; and more. 

He goes on to outline a few best practices that brands and researchers can employ to help mitigate impact - especially if the audience they are surveying falls into a high-risk category. While he covers several techniques that are covered in more depth in our paper, he writes that “Perhaps the most vital piece is to take a more thoughtful approach to sampling. For audiences that fall into high-risk categories, such as those identified by this study, aggregating sample can help to target higher quality respondents by bringing them in from a wider number of sources.”

He concludes the article with an acknowledgement that the research ecosystem is rapidly evolving and, as researchers, we need to keep a close eye on every factor that is affecting data quality. “Adapting research practices and building knowledge surrounding data quality challenges is critical to success.” 

You can read the entire article here. 

Need help achieving the very best data quality with your next market research project? We can help you find the right audience. Reach out today!