Online Panel Research: A Data Quality Perspective

Provides new insights into the accuracy and value of online panels for completing surveys

Over the last decade, there has been a major global shift in survey and market research towards data collection, using samples selected from online panels. Yet despite their widespread use, remarkably little is known about the quality of the resulting data.

This edited volume is one of the first attempts to carefully examine the quality of the survey data being generated by online samples. It describes some of the best empirically-based research on what has become a very important yet controversial method of collecting data. Online Panel Research presents 19 chapters of previously unpublished work addressing a wide range of topics, including coverage bias, nonresponse, measurement error, adjustment techniques, the relationship between nonresponse and measurement error, impact of smartphone adoption on data collection, Internet rating panels, and operational issues.

The datasets used to prepare the analyses reported in the chapters are available on the accompanying website: www.wiley.com/go/online_panel

• Covers controversial topics such as professional respondents, speeders, and respondent validation.
• Addresses cutting-edge topics such as the challenge of smartphone survey completion, software to manage online panels, and Internet and mobile ratings panels.
• Discusses and provides examples of comparison studies between online panels and other surveys or benchmarks.
• Describes adjustment techniques to improve sample representativeness.
• Addresses coverage, nonresponse, attrition, and the relationship between nonresponse and measurement error with examples using data from the United States and Europe.
• Addresses practical questions such as motivations for joining an online panel and best practices for managing communications with panelists.
• Presents a meta-analysis of determinants of response quantity.
• Features contributions from 50 international authors with a wide variety of backgrounds and expertise.

This book will be an invaluable resource for opinion and market researchers, academic researchers relying on web-based data collection, governmental researchers, statisticians, psychologists, sociologists, and other research practitioners.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Online panel research: History, concepts, applications and a look at the future
Chapter 2 A critical review of studies investigating the quality of data obtained with online panels based on probability and nonprobability samples

Part I Coverage
Chapter 3 Assessing representativeness of a probability-based online panel in Germany
Chapter 4 Online panels and validity: Representativeness and attrition in the Finnish eOpinion panel
Chapter 5 The untold story of multi-mode (online and mail) consumer panels: From optimal recruitment to retention and attrition

Part II Nonresponse
Chapter 6 Nonresponse and attrition in a probability-based online panel for the general population
Chapter 7 Determinants of the starting rate and the completion rate in online panel studies
Chapter 8 Motives for joining nonprobability online panels and their association with survey participation behavior
Chapter 9 Informing panel members about study results: Effects of traditional and innovative forms of feedback on participation

Part III Measurement Error
Chapter 10 Professional respondents in nonprobability online panels
Chapter 11 The impact of speeding on data quality in nonprobability and freshly recruited probability-based online panels

Part IV Weighting Adjustments
Chapter 12 Improving web survey quality: Potentials and constraints of propensity score adjustments
Chapter 13 Estimating the effects of nonresponses in online panels through imputation

Part V Nonresponse and Measurement Error
Chapter 14 The relationship between nonresponse strategies and measurement error: Comparing online panel surveys to traditional surveys
Chapter 15 Nonresponse and measurement error in an online panel: Does additional effort to recruit reluctant respondents result in poorer quality data?

Part VI Special Domains
Chapter 16 An empirical test of the impact of smartphones on panel-based online data collection
Chapter 17 Internet and mobile ratings panels

Part VII Operational Issues in Online Panels
Chapter 18 Online panel software
Chapter 19 Validating respondents’ identity in online samples