Through comprehensive research, SSI reveals how everyone can contribute to an outstanding experience for survey respondents

March 3, 2009 - Shelton, Connecticut, USA - Opinions come from people - the survey research industry's most valuable commodity. Survey Sampling International (SSI), a leader in the survey research industry for more than 30 years, is initiating an industry-wide call to action with its Respondent Preservation Initiative(TM).

The Initiative is a full-scale program to educate, support, and direct the industry. It places the people who give their time and opinions to marketing research front and center because it is people who, by sharing their insights, help businesses stay informed and reduce risk in decision-making.

"SSI is dedicated to data quality in research," says Kees de Jong, SSI chief executive officer. "The Respondent Preservation Initiative is one way we are rallying the industry in support of one of the most important pieces to the research puzzle - people. Just like SSI's nitenos, our ‘need-to-know' staff meetings, it's about opening up a dialogue to make things better."

SSI's Initiative is based on thorough research to learn why people take surveys and what the research industry can do to make the survey experience satisfying. It incorporates a series of seminars, Webinars, and white papers that identifies and communicates best practices to engage and re-engage people to take surveys. SSI has identified several ways to provide an outstanding survey experience for respondents such as:

Providing well-designed questionnaires.

Giving appropriate rewards that make people feel valued.

Letting people take a survey when they want.

"Through surveys and focus groups, we've been listening to people voice their frustration about unclear question wording, confusing grids, and imprecise survey instructions, as well as the disappointment of surveys closing too soon," explains Jackie Lorch, SSI vice president of Global Knowledge. "The good news is that people want to take surveys. They are naturally curious and they want to express their opinions."

SSI is committed to creating the best survey experience possible. "That means no problems with dead links, screen-outs, and poorly designed questionnaires," de Jong adds. "As we all make people the focus of our effort, we will be able to sustain their goodwill to participate in research."

In support of this commitment, SSI is currently developing an index featuring precise measures of respondents' experiences with specific questionnaires. SSI will share its methods freely with the industry, and will begin offering discounts to clients whose surveys provide a superior respondent experience based on index scores.

SSI's unique Knowledge Team, at the helm of this initiative, will be sharing the results of its research at upcoming industry events. For example, in April, Pete Cape, SSI knowledge director, will speak at the ESOMAR Asia Pacific Conference in China on community based research in Asia Pacific, and the AMA Spring Training will feature Philip Garland, SSI senior researcher and methodologist, discussing Sampling 101 and 102.

"Sample is people," de Jong stresses. "People must be the focus of everyone in the industry. And from the reaction we're already getting, many other researchers share the belief that we must not lose sight of the people who cooperate with survey-taking. They are the industry's life's blood."

About Survey Sampling International
Survey Sampling International is the premier global provider of sampling solutions for survey research. SSI offers access to more than 6 million consumer and business-to-business research respondents in 54 countries via Internet, telephone, and mobile. Additional client services include custom profiling, survey programming and hosting, data processing, sampling consulting, and survey optimization.

SSI serves more than 1,800 clients worldwide, including three-quarters of the top researchers. Founded in 1977, SSI has an international staff of 400 people representing 50 countries and 36 languages. The company has 15 offices in Frankfurt, London, Madrid, Paris, Rotterdam, Stockholm, Beijing, Mumbai, Seoul, Shanghai, Sydney, Tokyo, Shelton, CT, Toronto, and La Quinta, CA. Additional SSI representatives are in Hong Kong and Singapore.

For more information, e-mail info@surveysampling.com.