Leveraging Technology

Research Matters
Research Matters is our periodic e-newsletter featuring high-quality information from the world of panel research. View a sample copy by visiting:

Summer 2004: Online vs. Traditional Surveys

By leveraging the power of online research tools, you can save time and money on your research projects. Internet-based tools are particularly useful with business audiences, since most business groups are now online in significant numbers.

Online Surveys
Online surveys offer the benefits of convenience and speed in conducting research. In-progress reporting is available to monitor the results as they come in. Technology-enabled surveys can also incorporate audiovisual images and offer incredible flexibility in structuring lines of questioning based on a respondent’s answers. 

Online Focus Groups
Through real-time online focus groups and online bulletin board focus groups, we can conduct studies that would be impossible or impractical to do using traditional methods. Since the methods do not try to replicate or, necessarily, imitate a face-to-face group, it also takes the research into new directions that leverage the power and unique nature of the Internet, offering many benefits:

 • In qualitative online research each participant has an equal opportunity to contribute to the discussion.

 • The anonymity of the communications process encourages more open and candid responses than traditional face-to-face qualitative research with less influence from group leaders or others who can dominate a conversation using traditional methods.

 • Participants from widely dispersed geographic areas can easily come together for a discussion without incurring time-consuming travel and costs.

 • The dynamics, bias and level of information sharing among participants can also be controlled using the forced setting in the software program when setting up the project.

 • Audiovisual stimuli can also be easily incorporated into the discussion, including websites, video, graphic images and audio recordings.

 • Clients and other observers can monitor the groups in progress and communicate privately with the moderator.

Online qualitative research can be conducted with six to eight participants in a real-time focus group or with up to 30 participating in a bulletin board focus group that takes place over three, five, seven or more days.


To learn more about the benefits of working with DataZone Research & Consulting, call (410) 414-5718, or e-mail info@datazoneresearch.com.