Glossary
Welcome to the ACE (Association Collaborative Effort) Online Research Glossary. The objective of ACE is to ensure that all online and panel researchers and users, no matter the industry segment or the association affiliation, share a set of understood and accepted process and performance guidelines. The industry associations including AMA, ARF, CASRO, ESOMAR, MRA, and the MRIA have collaborated to collect and develop a set of standard terms and definitions that can be used and understood consistently across the industry.
We invite you to reference and use the definitions in your work and also to submit additional online research terms and definitions that can be considered for inclusion in the ACE Online Research Glossary. You may do so by clicking on the appropriate links in this wiki.
Your feedback and input is important to ACE. As online research grows and matures, we will ensure that the ACE Glossary of online research terms incorporates new and up to date information. Your participation in creating updated terms and definitions is encouraged and you can post proposed edits and additions below. All suggested edits, additional terms and definitions will be reviewed and updated on a regular basis by ACE, a team of industry leaders representing all associations committed to the ACE mission.
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ACCESS PANEL
A panel that is commercially available for use in all types of research by paying clients. See also Panel.
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ACCESS PANEL PROVIDER
A service provider that manages and is responsible for the access panel(s) used by researchers to conduct surveys.
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ACTIVE PANEL MEMBER
"A term describing the total number of panelists within an online panel that meet a certain level of activity or involvement with that panel. There is currently no universally accepted definition of "active panelist." The term "active panelist" is widely considered to be more meaningful than "total number of panelists." This is because many panelists over time become disengaged, stop participating, or attrite themselves from panel membership. The number of total panelists in an online panel may include members who are no longer likely to participate if given a survey invitation. Thus, the total number of panelists may be a poor reflection of those people who are available and likely to complete a survey. Conversely, the number of active panelists reflects those people in an online panel who can be said to demonstrate some level of activity, suggesting that they may consider and agree to a survey request. According to the ISO (www.iso.org) definition, an active panelist is a panel member who has participated in at least one survey if requested, or has updated his/her profile data, or has registered to join the panel, within the last 12 months. For a more reliable estimate of feasibility, ACE recommends defining an active panelist as a panel member who has participated in at least one survey if requested, or has updated his/her profile data, or has registered to join the panel, within the last 6 months."
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BIAS
Systematic deviation between the estimate and the true parameter value. Biases which may particularly impact online research include coverage, mode and response biases.
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BIASED QUESTIONS
Questions which are phrased or expressed in such a way that they influence the respondent’s answer. Bias may be introduced into a question in numerous ways. Some, but not all, examples include question wording, question format and design, question placement, and through supplemental information (such as images, audio, video, or other dynamic formats) attached to questions. Biased questions may have additional impact in self-administered methodologies such as online.
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BIASED RESPONSES
An inaccurate statement of an opinion, attitude, behavior, or belief given by the respondent. This biased or untrue reporting may be conscious or unconscious.
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BIASED SAMPLE
A sample that does not represent the target population of interest. For example an online sample may over- or under-represent population segments based on their level of internet usage, and exclude those segments of the population without any readily-available access to the internet. All modes of research are subject to some level of bias.
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BREAKOFF
BROADBAND
Internet connection methods, including DSL, Cable, T1, T3 lines. Faster than dial up and more common in countries with mature internet coverage. See also Dial Up.
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BULLETIN BOARD
Methodology using online typed "conversation" via an electronic bulletin board for qualitative research. The methodology is usually supported by software that allows respondents to connect and engage with each other in dialogue for research purposes.
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CENSUS
Generally refers to a complete canvas of the population being studied.
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CHRISTMAS TREE PATTERN
Pattern of selecting radio buttons in grid questions by respondents not paying attention to the questionnaire. When buttons are selected on a diagonal, a Christmas tree pattern is formed; see also Straightlining.
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CLICK RATE, CLICK THROUGH RATE
The mouse click which takes a respondent to the first page of a questionnaire (excludes clicks to general sort or screener surveys which may precede a specific questionnaire, or to general "welcome" or introductory pages.) The number of clicks divided by the number of opportunities (e.g. email invitations sent, or banner ads posted) which respondents have to click on the questionnaire.
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COMMUNITY (or COMMUNITY PANEL)
In online research, a community is a group of people who communicate about their opinions, lifestyle, and preferences not only with the sponsor of the community, but with the other members of the group. A community uses interactive communication in all directions, rather than just between an individual member and a survey. Communities often engage members in non-traditional forms of research, such as bulletin board discussions, chat rooms, and virtual experiences. Communities can be proprietary or access in nature. See also Access Panel, Continuous Panel, Custom Panel, Online Panel, Panel, and Proprietary Panel.
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COMPLETES PER HOUR (CPH)
The number of interviews completed per hour of interviewing. Factors influencing the Completion Rate are accuracy of sample, study incidence, interview length, screener length and cooperation rate (i.e. how many qualified respondents will actually complete the survey).
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COMPLETION RATE
Completion rate refers to the percentage of qualified respondents who start the survey portion (post-screener) and complete the survey. In other words, the number of qualified completed surveys divided by the number of qualified respondents who pass the screener.
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COMPLETIONS
"A term describing the number of completed surveys on a research project that are acceptable for purposes of analysis (not including those respondents who have screened out or exceeded their quota). Most research projects pre-specify the targeted number of completes during the design stage. These requirements should be met prior to the closing of the data collection phase(s) of the study. The precise definition of a survey complete may vary from study to study. For example, respondents often leave particular items, or questions, unanswered. Therefore a "complete" is generally not defined as a survey where 100% of the questionnaire items are filled out by the respondent. Instead, rules may be specifed by particular stakeholders in the research process. For example, a complete may be defined as a case where the respondent has answered a certain total percentage of questions on the survey questionnaire."
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CONFIDENTIALITY
The requirement that data collected or information provided must be protected from unauthorized access. Confidentiality refers to the act of not divulging two types of information in a research study. First, confidentiality is maintained when study information such as client name, brand name, purpose of the research, concepts and/or products (except as directed by the study instructions) is only provided to those who have a need to know. Confidentiality also refers to maintaining the privacy of any information collected from or about any individual respondent.
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CONTACT
Communication made with a respondent to invite their participation in a research study. Modes of online communication include email invitations, banners, or web site links. Respondents may also be recruited to an online study via an offline communication method such as telephone or mail.
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CONTACT RATE
The number of email invitations successfully delivered to potential respondents divided by the number of email invitations sent.
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CONTINUOUS PANEL
A group of selected respondents who have agreed to provide information at specified intervals, about a given topic, and/or over an extended period of time. Also known as a longitudinal panel. It is a specialized panel based on the needs of a particular research project or program, e.g., repeated measures designs. In online research, web-specific measures may also be appended and tracked on a member over time.
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COOPERATION RATE
For online panel research, cooperation rate and response rate are used interchangeably. See Response Rate.
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COPPA
Websites that collect information from children under the age of 13 are required to comply with US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Information at www.coppa.org.
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CPI (COST PER INTERVIEW)
Determined by dividing the number of completed interviews into the total sample cost, generally inclusive of incentives and project management. Often the cost for programming and hosting is itemized separately.
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CUSTOM PANEL
DATABASE
A collection of email addresses, not specifically gathered for the purpose of providing samples for research. Database participants may receive direct marketing messages and other offers as well as invitations to take surveys. Database participants do not usually experience any community engagement activities (such as newsletters, faqs and member web sites) commonly offered to research panel or community members.
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DE-DUPLICATION
The process of preventing or removing duplicate people, computers, or accounts from a sample or sample source so that they are not in the final data set more than once. Duplication standards can vary based on the study objectives, however in general, only one response is permitted per individual or household. Front-end de-duplication is often conducted using technology solutions such as digital fingerprinting, identity validation, or address verification and comparisons, and serves to prevent duplicates from ever entering the survey. When pre-survey technology is not completed, or as a secondary check, post-survey data reviews are employed to remove apparent duplicates from the data file using such fields as birthdate, email address, or by comparing data or answer patterns. Duplication between multiple sample sources or methodologies (e.g. between a panel and river source) is often referred to as overlap, to distinguish it from duplication within one single sample source. See also Digital Fingerprinting, Panel Overlap.
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DIAL UP
Internet connection method using telephone lines (56k, 28k, etc.); slower than broadband and less common in countries with mature internet coverage. See also Broadband.
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DIGITAL FINGERPRINTING
A technology-enabled system that establishes a set of configuration data about a respondent's computer which it transforms to create a "machine" or device fingerprint. Such systems assume the “machine fingerprint” uniquely identifies computer settings and characteristics associated with an individual computer or, potentially, an individual account.
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DOUBLE OPT-IN
DROP
The instance of a respondent not reaching a survey resolution status (e.g. screened out, over quota, completed.)
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DROP RATE
Number of drops divided by the number of starts. Cannot be definitively calculated until the field period has closed since respondents may return and continue a survey hours or days after dropping out. See also Break Off, Drop.
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DUPLICATION
A situation where a panelist is selected and invited more than once to participate in a survey. This can occur if a panelist is a member of more than one panel or sample source (panel overlap) and is selected to particpate in a survey that is split across sample sources.
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ELIGIBLE RESPONDENT
A respondent and/or panelist who is determined to be qualified to participate in a study, based on known information (such as contained in a panelist profile) or information obtained via a screening process.
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ESOMAR 26
Esomar, the World Association of Research Professionals, has developed 26 questions to help research buyers of online samples.
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ESTIMATED REACH COUNTING
A method used to describe the size of a panel or database. Reach estimates may take into account multiple panel members residing at the same physical address or using the same computer or email address. Reach counting is not a generally accepted way to describe the size of a panel, but can be provided as additional information about the composition of a panel. For example, a panel may have 600,000 members, but including additional members of each panelist's household, the total size or "reach" of the panel could be 1.3 million.
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FATIGUE EFFECT
Phenomenon in which panelists lose interest in an online questionnaire, either because of its length, content or design, and exhibit less effort in their answers, compared to the effort expended at the beginning of the questionnaire.
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FRAUDULENT RESPONDENT
A fraudulent respondent is someone who deliberately provides false information. Deceptive activities may include misrepresenting identity, falsifying responses to a questionnaire, or attempting to take a survey multiple times. Data from identifiable fraudulent respondents must be eliminated from the data set prior to analysis. See also Satisficing.
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HIPAA
The US Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) establishes regulation for the use and disclosure of protected health information. Information at www.hipaa.org
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INATTENTIVE RESPONDENT
Panelist or respondent who demonstrates a lack of engagement in a survey, which may be evident through such signs as missing data, low volume of open-ended comments, or lack of consistency in responses. Low engagement may have multiple causes, such as poor questionnaire design, lack of time, or qualities innate to the respondent. See also Satisficing.
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INTERCEPT INTERVIEW
In online research, an 'intercept' takes place when a potential respondent is invited to participate in a survey opportunity while engaged in some other online activity, such as visiting a website. An invitation may appear in many forms including within a webpage or in the form of a pop-up or pop-under page. If a visitor accepts the invitation, he is usually redirected immediately to a survey opportunity. Intercept methodology may also be used to pre-recruit to a study. See also Web Intercept and River.
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LONGITUDINAL PANEL
ONLINE PANEL
A panel that is used for online research initiatives, and which uses the member's email address and/or a web portal as the primary means of communication, and will often have in-depth profiles regarding the member's habits and lifestyles. See also Access Panel, Community, Continuous Panel, Custom Panel, Panel, Proprietary Panel, and Specialty Panel.)
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ONLINE SECURITY
The safeguarding of electronic data. Such data could be derived from or about consumers, employees, clients, contractors, or customers. Safeguards include: password protection; encryption; the use of anti-virus and anti-spyware software; firewalls; a written data security plan; an employee responsible for such security, such as a compliance officer or privacy officer; and physical safeguards, such as locks on computer rooms and video surveillance systems. See also Secure Online Content.
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OPEN RATE
The number of email invitations opened divided by the number of email invitations successfully delivered.
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OPT-IN
The act by which the respondent and/or panelist consents to inclusion by agreeing to be considered for membership in a respondent community or panel. All messages sent to invite participation in survey research should be permission-based or "opt-in", i.e. the recipient should have taken action to sign up or grant permission to receive market research survey invitations. In a “double opt-in” system, the respondent and/or panelist consents to inclusion by first agreeing to be considered for membership, and then confirming that agreement at a later point (such as validating contact information and/or email address). ACE strongly recommends a double opt-in registration process.
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OPT-OUT
The act by which the panel member or respondent specifically requests that he/she be removed from membership in a panel or respondent pool.
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PANEL
A group of selected research participants who have agreed to provide information at specified intervals over an extended period of time. A panel can be distinguished from a database in the following ways: 1) Its members are asked to provide additional information about themselves and their household, such as demographics, ownership and lifestyle information; 2) an ongoing relationship exists with the panel brand; 3) there is often a systematic reward mechanism unique to the panel; 4) the members do not receive direct marketing messages as a result of their membership. See also Access Panel; Community, Continuous Panel, Custom Panel, Online Panel, Proprietary Panel, and Specialty Panel.
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PANEL CHURN RATE
"A calculation of the percentage of members of a panel who become unavailable for research purposes over time. ACE recommends that panel churn be calculated as (The number of active panelists at the beginning of a period minus (the number of active panelists at the end of period minus any new recruits during the period)) divided by the number of active panelists at the beginning of the period.
Example:
Formula: (# active start of period – (# total active end of period – new recruits during period still active end of period)) / # active start of period
If there are 200 active at start of period, 260 at end of the period, and 80 of those 260 were recruited during the period, the calculation would be:
(200 – (260 – 80)) / 200 = 20 / 200. Churn for the period is 10%.
"
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PANEL LONGEVITY
PANEL MEMBER
An individual recruited from a documented source who has provided profile data and appropriate information for validation of identity, and who has given explicit consent to participate in research surveys and to the terms and conditions of panel membership, and who has not opted-out.
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PANEL OVERLAP
Refers to a situation when a panelist is a member of two or more panels. Panel overlap can create a situation where a panelist is selected more than once for the same survey that utilizes more than one panel (see duplication).
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PANEL TENURE
Length of time from join date to resignation or retirement or deactivation date of a panelist or community member.
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PARTICIPATION RATE
As applied to online panel research, for a particular survey the number of respondents who have provided a usable response divided by the total number of initial invitations requesting respondents to participate. NOTE: A usable response is one where the respondent has provided answers to all the questions required by the survey design. Where it is possible to determine the percentage of undelivered invitations (e.g. returned to sender owing to a full email inbox), then these should be included in the calculation. The number of respondents who did not receive their invitation would be subtracted from the total number of respondents invited to participate. (i.e. The participation rate is different from the completion rate, which refers only to those respondents who have successfully passed a screener, are within quota and complete the questionnaire.)
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PROFESSIONAL RESPONDENT
A respondent who attempts to make a living earning money from taking surveys. In online research, the meaning has expanded to encompass all kinds of quality issues, and there is no longer a generally accepted clear definition of the term. Therefore a new typology of poor quality respondent was proposed by Smith & Hofma Brown, Harris Interactive: Hyperactives; Frauds; Satisficers; Conditioned respondents.
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PROFILE DATA
PROPRIETARY PANEL
A group of participants who have agreed to participate in research over time on behalf of a particular company or group of companies. This panel is not commercially available for use by other companies. See also Access Panel; Community, Continuous Panel, Custom Panel, Online Panel, Panel, and Specialty Panel.
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QUALIFIED RESPONDENT
RE-CONTACT
Refers to interviewing a specific person following a product usage or refers to attempts, after the first attempt, to contact potential respondents who were not previously available for interview.
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RECRUITMENT POOL
The entire universe from which the online sample is constructed, whether panel, river or other online methodology. This is an important factor when considering the representativeness of any online sample, but there is no practical way to measure the size of this universe, and therefore no specific metric for calculating this. Users of online sample should understand the breadth of sources used to construct the sample they use and how this might impact the goals of their specific research project.
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RECRUITMENT REACH
REJECTION FREQUENCY
The number (or percentage) for each type of disposition that would flag or reject a possible respondent. Flags or rejections can occur because of multiple survey detection, time in survey less than minimal threshold, pattern detection trap failure, logic trap failure or other undesirable survey behaviors.
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RESPONDENT VALIDATION
Broadly refers to the procedures used to check that data have been collected according to specification. The procedure used to confirm the fact that the interview was conducted according to all specifications and instructions, and with the person indicated by name, address and/or telephone number on the questionnaire. Validation can be performed by the data collection company and/or client in person, by telephone, or by mail.
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RESPONSE RATE
Response rate is based on the people who have started the survey. Invitations should be adjusted for failures such as bouncebacks or errors. Respondents who are disqualified during the screening are counted as responses. Formula: Total number of attempted responses divided by total invitations or intercepts minus bouncebacks, errors or requests for removals. This definition for online usage differs from the traditional use in probability research, whereby response rate is defined as the number of completed interviews divided by the number of eligible persons in the sample.
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RIVER
RIVER-TYPE SAMPLING
Generating survey respondents by placing ads, offers or invitations on high traffic web sites or publications (note: the number of people who might possibly be reached is referred to as "recruitment reach" or "recruitment pool" rather than "panel size").
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SAMPLE SIZE (SS)
The total number of interviews that are to be completed in a study and are used for the analysis, or given parts of the analysis, if sample size varies within the questionnaire. This number should be net of any interviews that were removed for cheating or poor survey behavior.
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SAMPLE SOURCES
The recruitment sources that comprise the total sample. Possible sources can include: proprietary access panel, other access panel, river source, aggregator, opt-in list provider, client supplied sample, advertising (offline), advertising (online).
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SATISFICING
""Satisficing" combines the concepts of "satisfy" and "suffice" and in cognitive psychology, has been used to refer to a decision-making approach in which a person chooses to perform a task in a sub-optimal manner, particularly if the costs of optimization are high. Dr. Jon Krosnick (Professor, Stanford University) applied the concept to survey research in the early 1990's, and proposed that various forms of satisficing can be observed in survey respondent behavior. Survey participation is associated with cognitive work that must be performed by the respondent, and surveys vary in the amount of cognitive burden demanded of the respondent. "Satisficing" may be utilized by respondents to relieve the perceived burden, and the type of satisficing present may be connected to respondent motivation, survey difficulty/complexity, and innate ability of the individual to comply with the survey requirements. Examples of satisficing may include: incomplete responses, low volume of qualitative feedback, choosing socially desirable responses, choosing any option that completes the question (such as "no opinion"), "straightlining" or random patterning in grid questions, or providing undifferentiated responses. Satisficing behavior is a potential threat to data quality. Researchers should carefully evaluate the survey instrument, incentive plans, and target audience in advance of fielding in order to find opportunities to prevent satisficing. "
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SECURE ONLINE CONTENT
Online research allows researchers to display product concepts, advertising and other proprietary information more easily than phone or mail research, and the internet provides an easy way for this confidential data to be shared on blogs or bulletin boards. Therefore researchers must take precautions to limit access to graphics and other materials, e.g. by prefacing the survey with a privacy agreement; by displaying graphics for only a few seconds, by disabling the copy function, etc. There is no completely guaranteed way to secure content in an online survey environment. See also Online Security.
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SPAM
An email message sent without permission or without any prior existing business relationship, e.g. an email sent without permission to recruit for a study or panel. Spam is often viewed by internet users more broadly as "any unwanted email." In the US, the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 established standards for the sending of commercial email and requires the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to enforce its provisions.
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SPAMMING
SPECIALTY PANEL
A group of participants who were recruited based on a similarity which a client or groups of clients is targeting, such as a shared profession, ethnicity, or product use. A specialty panel will often have a custom recruiting plan that is designed to find special groups of people. (See also Access Panel, Community, Continuous Panel, Custom Panel, Online Panel, Panel, and Proprietary Panel.)
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STRAIGHTLINING
Pattern of selecting radio buttons in a straight line in a grid question by respondents not paying attention to the questionnaire.
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SURREPTITIOUS SAMPLING
Unethical recruitment techniques including collection of respondent email addresses from web sites or bulletin board site postings without specifically notifying individuals that they are being "recruited" for research purposes. Surreptitious sampling can include the use of spiders, spambots or similar to collect personal information without the respondent's explicit awareness. It may also include obtaining email addresses from sources that have not provided verifiable documentation that individuals on the list have opted in for contact for research purposes. Use of client or customer lists without express consent of the individual for future contact is also considered surreptitious.
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SURVEY CHARACTERISTIC STATISTICS
Refers to a number of measures including: (1) form and level of incentivization, (2) completion frequencies or histogram showing daily returns, indicating how quickly the survey was completed in field, (3) high-, low-, median- and mode-time for completion (note: avoid using mean which can be skewed by pauses and temporary interruptions), (4) number and type of logic traps (convergent/divergent validity, attention traps), (5) pattern recognition traps (straightlining, Christmas treeing, etc.) and others.
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SURVEY SATISFACTION MEASURE
Survey satisfaction is a key driver of survey engagement. IMRO, the Interactive Marketing Research Organization, recommends soliciting respondent opinions on the following statements: (1) the time and effort required to complete the survey was reasonable, (2) the survey was a good use of my time, (3) the survey was well-written, (4) I am being adequately compensated for my input, (5) the survey was well-organized, (6) the subject matter of the survey was important to me personally, (7) overall I am satisfied with the survey experience.
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SURVEY START
WEB INTERCEPT
A method of recruiting respondents to take surveys via banner ads or messages on web sites. Respondents are invited to take part in one single survey rather than to join a survey panel. Sometimes also known as “river” sampling.
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