Panel Methods Best Practices

In this article, we're going to wrap up our thoughts on the pros and cons of various panel research data collection methods, starting with the weaknesses of online surveys for panel data collection. You can read the benefits of online surveys in the preceding article found here.

Survey Boredom Boredom is a problem with most longitudinal panel studies. Even diaries and scanners cause boredom.

But with survey research, that boredom can be more problematic. When a respondent fills out a diary, for example, they have to fill it out anyway so they may as well answer honestly. With surveys, the information is already there, and all they have to do is select answers are move on.

It may be easier for them to answer as quickly as possible without giving any thought so that they can stop taking the "boring survey." Technological Issues Online surveys can also have technological issues that come into play. If the person loses Internet, or their email address starts marking the emails as spam, that can be a problem in a study that requires its users to fill out information regularly. More Monitoring While it's not necessary, one of the benefits of survey research is that it can be monitored to ensure the panel is filling out its surveys.

Of course, this is also a potential weakness, because it means that you may need to devote staff hours to encouraging survey completion. That's a choice made by your company, of course, but it's something that could play a role.

This article series is not comparing three separate choices for panel research that you can choose. Each has its own purpose, where scanners are almost always used to track purchases, diaries are used to track any type of recurring activity, and surveys are used for behaviors, opinions, or buying activities that can be selected or listed. Each one can benefit your business depending on the type of research you want to gather and how you want to work with it.

But when comparing pros and cons between the survey methods, online surveys come out fairly far ahead, especially for panel research. The data is protected, monitoring is easy, and the costs are often less prohibitive. While there are some issues with boredom and technology, survey panel research is a fairly reliable method of data collection.