If you’re not a research professional but do want to commission a study of some sort and speak to any of the many research agencies in the UK then you stand a good chance of getting different assessments of how suitable the online methodology is depending on who it is you talk to.

As previously mentioned, all research methodologies introduce a bias of some description. What you’ll find in the research industry is that there’s a bias regarding the bias!

Speak to an agency that has been around for a while and you may find they recommend telephone interviewers, paper surveys and focus-groups for a job you suspect could be done online. Often this has more to do with culture and margins than choosing the right tool for the job. Conversely, modern digital agencies might encourage you down an online path when what you really need is the more touchy-feely qualitative approach that traditional techniques are better placed to deliver.

If in doubt we recommend the car radio test! When they’re not looking, take a peek at the station their car radio is tuned to. If it’s Radio 3 then you’ll probably end up being taken down the telephone interview and focus-group route regardless. If you look and see that actually they don’t have a radio, just an iPod docking station, then get ready to be told that online is the way to go.

At ORS we are specialists in online research. Part of the service we provide is to give clear advice as to how suitable a study is for the online methodology and what level of success can be expected. Sometimes this means sending studies elsewhere but commercially it’s more important for us to provide the best advice available. Such an assessment is free and comes with no obligations so please get in touch if you would like our advice regarding your project.

If you do decide to run an online study then you may be interested to read our second guide in this series, Preparing & Delivering An Online Research Study.