There is a short op-ed article from Abi Fuller of Acumen Fieldwork in a special insert “Fieldwork in focus” of Research Magazine.
The article is called “If you want to know, ask a virgin”. Although it was written in the context of traditional focus groups, it resonates well for quantitative (and online) because it states the obvious that is so easy to forget: “by encouraging new respondents, would there be less inclination to use serial respondents? Quality has to be caused, not controlled.”
2008 has obviously been mostly focused on getting rid of the bad apples. Can we now start talking about how to engage first time respondents? People like to give their opinion, but not for surveys anymore. Too long, too boring, too linear. Social polling and consumer-generated content are all over the place, providing great instantaneous feedback but lacking the depth, control and sampling rigor of a real survey.
So, what’s next? It is time to focus on what needs to happen to make regular people want to participate in the research process…
Hi Olivier,
Regarding online, I’m not sure that virgin means quality.
Keep in mind that virgins are alone before industry’s questionnaires, which are getting, day by day, more sophisticated: Ajax, Flash, etc.
New respondents (usually new “internautes”) have to learn some basic concepts, from “next button” to “drag and drop”, before they are prepared to participate on the research process and really enjoy… everybody knows that the “first time” is not best one…
Cheers,
Enric, I understand and respect your opinion, but I will have to disagree. I think rich user interfaces (Ajax, Flash etc) should be used if needed to make the survey experience more intuitive, not just because we can, making surveys even more complex than they already are. I have seen great UIs using pure html, and I have seen lousy UIs using all the flash, video and Ajax you can imagine. Lines of code do not replace great design or copy…