2 Quantitative online research

Questions and principles every client should ask before starting a project, while briefing it and after it has been carried out:

General questions

• What sources do the respondents taking part in the online research come from?
• How is the representativeness of the sample ensured? Does an objective result require respondents who have no internet access as well?
• What is the methodology for selecting respondents into the project?
• How are respondents invited to take part, and what motivates them to answer?
• How is data quality ensured and checked?
• What questionnaire length and fieldwork period are recommended in order to keep the data good?
• How is personal data protection handled in the project?
• If the respondent contacts come from the client’s database, does the project comply with the GDPR?

Questions for research run on an online panel

• How were the respondents recruited into the panel?
• How is a respondent’s identity verified on joining the panel?
• Does the panel operator hold profile data about its respondents?
• How often, and by what means, is respondents’ identity verified?
• What procedures does the panel operator use to monitor the quality of respondents and of the data obtained?
• How often may a respondent in the panel take part in research?
• Where more than one online panel was used, how was it verified that the respondents do not overlap?
• How were any subcontractors of the online panel selected?
• Does the panel operator declare the use of survey routing*?

The standard can be downloaded in full here.