Web is King
Nearly all market research agencies offering quantitative research include online research as part of their offering.  It seems that the number of organisations offering this service is only likely to increase very slowly in future years.  However, the total volume of Web research has room for further growth.

Opportunities in mixed mode?

A substantial minority of companies offer mixed mode research as part of their offering, but it is currently only a very small part of revenues. By far the most common combination for mixed mode is Web and CATI.  Contrary to common opinion, the main reasons for conducting mixed mode are not to cut fieldwork costs (although this is also important) but to increase response rates and improve respondent satisfaction –  both factors closely aligned with combating the acknowledged decline in response rates. Though volumes remain small, the opportunities that mixed mode offers, and the fact that many companies are interested enough to have added it to their portfolios suggests that this is going to become a far larger revenue stream in the future.

An unclear future for other data collection methods What is to become of the other data collection methods is less certain.  Small companies see a growth in CATI, CAPI and Web, whereas medium and large companies only see a growth in the Web. Revenues for CAPI are very small compared to the number of companies offering the service – which suggests a problem or that this mode has reached a plateau. 

Opportunities in panel management

Nearly half of the companies in the study have developed their own software for panel management and a sizeable minority are using Microsoft Access or Excel. However, this is less than in previous years, showing there is a trend towards buying packaged panel management solutions rather than creating custom tools.

Major changes on the horizon

Around a quarter of the industry is planning to change their software over the next two years and another quarter is undecided. The big companies appear to be more likely to switch software – 39% plan to change and a further 18% are undecided.  That is, less than a half of the big companies are planning not to change their software. There are sharp differences between the reasons cited by larger and smaller research companies.

Desperately seeking panel data

In our previous two studies, respondents expected to make less use of client supplied sample, but this has not been the case.  The utilization of client sample has actually increased, this year, showing a widening gulf between hopes and experience. Previously, it also seemed that access panels were gaining in popularity and the results this year confirm the ascendancy of the rented panel.

Reporting and analysis – more of the same

As before, PowerPoint is easily the most favoured distribution tool, but our analysis shows that bulk cross-tab reporting, though now only used in a minority of projects, is far from the brink of becoming obsolete.