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Dr. Pete on Open vs. Closed Recruitment
12.04.2011
Dr. Pete
Q. What is meant by closed recruitment? Is it really the best method of recruitment?
A. Closed recruitment is when only those people who are actually invited to join a panel can join the panel - there are no pages where you can just sign up. It's a bit of a buzz at the moment because of concerns about multiple panel membership. Those in favor say it stops people from joining multiple panels just to get the rewards and that multiple panel panelists also pay no attention to the surveys they are asked to take.
However, these two arguments don't necessarily follow on from each other - but that's a subject we'll come back to another time. Let's think for a minute about the practicalities of pure closed recruitment - where are these people going to come from? Most of the big "closed" panels use a few sources and these can be a source of concern. e-Rewards for example invite members of the frequent flyer programs of American Airlines, Continental, Delta, US Airways, and NWA. They also come from Hertz Car Rental and Hilton HHonors loyalty programs among others.
So what sort of panel is it? It certainly doesn't represent the views of people who do not join reward programs. For some subjects, air travel usage or airline ratings for example, indeed anything to do with transportation one might expect some bias in the sample. Essentially the "problem" with panels like this stems from the sampling frame; these panels are not a good cross-section of the universe the panel seeks to represent. As with all survey biases, you'll never know what the impact is on your survey estimates - nor can you correct for them.
To really work as a closed panel that has little chance of containing members of other panels, you'd need some sort of universal sampling frame that no one else is using. This isn't available online so it would probably have to be RDD telephone or face-to-face. Of course nothing would subsequently stop your panelists from going on to join other online panels that were less closed - you'd have the same "problem" and would have spent more money in recruitment! Variance is the key to market research and for online panel suppliers that means variation in the sources and modes of recruitment.
Cordially,
-Dr. Pete
