March 17, 2009 - Shelton, Connecticut, USA - Researchers at Survey Sampling International (SSI) have found that the cumbersome and oft-used grid question in survey research questionnaires isn't serving its intended purpose and should be laid to rest. SSI designed and conducted this research as part of the Respondent Preservation Initiative(TM) - an industry-wide call to action which focuses on making the survey experience satisfying for respondents while maintaining research quality.

"We know respondents don't like grids," Jackie Lorch, SSI VP, Global Knowledge Management, points out. "They've been telling us that for years in focus groups and feedback, but we've always thought of grids as a necessary evil in questionnaire design. Now, we're beginning to learn that not only are grids frustrating for respondents - they actually produce inferior data."

SSI Senior Methodologist Philip Garland, Ph.D., fielded three separately designed surveys in February, featuring questions about media habits, leisure behavior, and community involvement, each with 500 respondents. The first used a familiar matrix or "grid" design for its questions; the second, the "moderate" version, removed the grid but still asked one question about multiple targets simultaneously; and the third, called the "ideal" version, asked each measure separately for each concept including response options specifically tailored to the question.

Dr. Garland examined respondent satisfaction, survey completion rates, completion time, and the reliability and validity of the measures. Data are clear - of the three types of questionnaires, the ideal version performed the best. In that questionnaire, there was no dropoff in completion or satisfaction rates, and, more importantly, data quality was improved.

"For example," explains Dr. Garland, "it is reasonable to assume that liberals donate to National Public Radio (NPR) more than conservatives. But only the ideal version was able to predict whether liberals were more likely to donate."

Dr. Garland, a member of SSI's Knowledge Team, will present the study findings at industry events this year. SSI's Knowledge Team will continue to field research on the respondent experience and share the results through industry events, webinars, and white papers as part of its Respondent Preservation Initiative. The Knowledge Team also offers individual consultation on research design. For more information, visit SSI's Knowledge Center.

To access study details and results, please click here.

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 17 offices in Frankfurt, London, Madrid, Paris, Rotterdam, Stockholm, Beijing, Mumbai, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Miexico City, Shelton, CT, Toronto, and Los Angeles, CA. Additional SSI representatives are in Guangzhou and Singapore.

Contact:                                                                      
Philip Garland, Ph.D., Senior Methodologist                                                      
Survey Sampling International                          
+1.203.567.7200
Philip_Garland@surveysampling.com