1. What experience does your company have in providing online samples for market research?
Context: This answer might help you to form an opinion about the relevant experience of the sample provider. How long has the sample provider been providing this service and do they have, for example, a market research, direct marketing or more technological background? Are the samples solely provided for third party research, or does the company also conduct proprietary work using their panels?
MED.research provides all types of services for online market research studies, i.e. questionnaire design and adjustments for online interviewing, survey programming and data hosting, sampling from its own and partners' panels, software development for data collection, processing and reporting. Our staff consists of talented and dedicated professionals in relevant fields with decades of experience in research industry.
Our consumer panel http://med.research.ua/ currently contains over 20k members. Among our clients are many leading Ukrainian and international research and digital agencies.

2. Please describe and explain the type(s) of online sample sources from which you get respondents. Are these databases?
Actively managed research panels? Direct marketing lists? Social networks? Web intercept (also known as river) samples?
Context: The description of the types of sources a provider uses for delivering on online sample will provide insight into the quality of the sample.
MED.research owns a consumer panel and uses it as the main sample source. This is a double opt-in actively managed panel. The panel is mainly recruited via banner and teaser advertisement throughout a vast variety of sites. Non-monetary motivation at the first contact is used.
With the customer's consent we can use river sampling to engage additional participants.
Participants go through proprietary multi-step quality controls before being included in any samples for our clients.
We understand the importance of keeping our panel in good high quality condition, and have a special panel management team responsible for its maintenance. The panel consists of actual, reliable and verified data.
3. If you provide more than one type of sample source: How are the different sample sources blended together to ensure validity? How can this be replicated over time to provide reliability? How do you deal with the possibility of duplication of respondents across sources?
Context: The variation in data coming from different sources has been well documented. Overlap between different panel providers can be significant in some cases and de-duplication removes this source of error and frustration for respondents.
We are flexible and use more than one panel source, however we tend to constrain within same or similar sample blend for each project, especially for long-term tracking studies.
We use proprietary deduplication algorithm based on IP address, cookie, email hash and other digital fingerprints to find and remove duplicates both within our own panel and any sample we administer including those coming from our partners and ensure that same respondents won't complete the same survey twice.
4. Are your sample source(s) used solely for market research? If not, what other purposes are they used for?
Context: Combining respondents from sources set up primarily for different purposes (like direct marketing for example) may cause undesirable survey effects
We use our panel solely for market research and no other purposes.
5. How do you source groups that may be hard to reach on the Internet?
Context: Ensuring the inclusion of hard-to-reach groups on the Internet (like ethnic minority groups, young people, seniors, etc.) may increase population coverage and improve the quality of the sample provided.
We regularly analyze profiles of our panel members and recruit people for groups lacking representation. For a particular survey we may turn to our partners or use telephone or face to face approach, or use river sampling or offline recruitment, if the customer approves.
Internet is widely spread in Ukraine though there are several groups that are harder to reach:
people with extremely high income
rural population
people with a low education level
6. If, on a particular project, you need to supplement your sample(s) with sample(s) from other providers, how do you select those partners? Is it your policy to notify a client in advance when using a third party provider?
Context: Many providers work with third parties. This means that the quality of the sample is also dependent on the quality of sample providers that the buyer did not select. Transparency is essential in this situation. Overlap between different providers can be significant in some cases and de-duplication removes this source of error and frustration for respondents. Providers who observe process standards like the ISO standards are required to give you this information.
In case we need to boost our capacities with external sample, we always address the trusted partners who have the same policies regarding data protection and panel management in place. This is always a rule to inform the client about the use of extra partner for the project, about the sample size and terms of use, as well as ways to avoid and / or clean out duplicates.
7. What steps do you take to achieve a representative sample of the target population?
Context: The sampling processes (i.e. how individuals are selected or allocated from the sample sources) used are the main factor in sample provision. A systematic approach based on market research fundamentals may increase sample quality.
To maintain our panel audience up-to-date we follow statistics from official Ukrainian surveys such as information about Ukrainian population, and direct our efforts to recruit those presented not well enough.
The sample structure is always discussed and agreed with the client in pre-fielding stage. To ensure the sample is representative we use quota sets (both linear and crossed – according to the client's needs).
8. Do you employ a survey router?
Context: A survey router is a software system that allocates willing respondents to surveys for which they are likely to qualify. Respondents will have been directed to the router for different reasons, perhaps aNer not qualifying for another survey in which they had been directly invited to participate, or maybe as a result of a general invitation from the router itself. There is no consensus at present about whether and how the use of a router affects the responses that individuals give to survey questions.
No, we do not use a survey router.
9. If you use a router: Please describe the allocation process with in your router. How do you decide which surveys might be considered for a respondent? On what priority basis are respondents allocated to surveys?
Context: Biases of varying severity may arise from the prioritization in choices of surveys to present to respondents and the method of allocation.
We do not use a survey router.
10. If you use a router: What measures do you take to guard against or mitigate any bias arising from employing a router? How do you measure and report any bias?
Context: If Person A is allocated to Survey X on the basis of some characteristic then they may not be allowed to also do Survey Y. The sample for Survey Y is potentially biased by the absence of people like Person A.
We do not use a survey router.
11. If you use a router: Who in your company sets the parameters of the router? Is it a dedicated team or individual project managers?
Context: It may be necessary to try to replicate your project in the future with as many of the parameters as possible set to the same values. How difficult or easy will this be?
We do not use a survey router.
12. What profiling data is held on respondents? How is it done? How does this differ across sample sources? How is it kept up-to-date? If no relevant profiling data is held, how are low incidence projects dealt with?
Context: The usefulness to your project of pre-profiled information will depend on the precise question asked and may also depend on when it was asked. If real time profiling is used, what control do you have over what question is actually asked?
At MED.research we gather the following profiling information:
General personal data (age, gender, region, education, marital status, employment status, personal income)
Employment (industry, position, number of employees)
Financial services used (banking and insurance products)
Automotive (number of vehicles, makes and models, age, type of ownership)
Communication services (TV, mobile phones, internet)
Healthcare (health problems, alcohol and drugs consumption)
We ask panel members to update their profile information every 6 months. We also conduct express surveys embedded into our emails.
13. What Please describe your survey invitation process. What is the proposition that people are offered to take part in individual surveys? What information about the project itself is given in the process?
Apart from direct invitations to specific surveys (or to a router), what other means of invitation to surveys are respondents exposed to? You should note that not all invitations to participate take the form of emails.
Context: The type of proposition (and associated rewards) could influence the type of people who agree to take part in specific projects and can therefore influence sample quality. The level of detail given about the project may also influence response.
The invitation contains URL to the survey, rewards information and estimated length.

Invitations are sent via various media such as email, web push, messengers like Viber or Telegram.
To avoid bias we do not divulge any information on the project, its topic or screening criteria in the invitation.
14. Please describe the incentives that respondents are offered for taking part in your surveys. How does this differ by sample source, by interview length, by respondent characteristics?
Context: The reward or incentive system may have an impact on the reasons why people participate in a specific project and these effects can cause sample bias.
For completing surveys MED.research offers various types of incentives, such as plain cash or points, discount coupons, charity donations, prizes etc.
Incentive amount depends on survey length, characteristics of the target audience; it may also depend on complexity of survey and its topic. We can offer higher incentives during holidays.
15. What information about a project do you need in order to give an accurate estimate of feasibility using your own resources?
Context: The "size" of any panel or source may not necessarily be an accurate indicator that your specific project can be completed or completed within your desired timeframe.
To guarantee the most accurate estimate we request a detailed description of the target audience – location, age, brand usage etc., desired sample size and limits, incidence rate if known, number of questions to ask and length of the interview.
16. Do you measure respondent satisfaction? Is this information made available to clients?
Context: Respondent satisfaction may be an indicator of willingness to take future surveys. Respondent reactions to your survey from self-reported feedback or from an analysis of suspend points might be very valuable to help understand survey results.
Yes, we track respondent satisfaction by asking to evaluate the survey on a 5-point scale, to answer open-ended questions and provide comments.
Our management team monitors the number of comments and complaints and if something is out of the ordinary the team takes relevant actions.
We also check average completion rate for each survey.
This information is shared with the client in the technical report which is provided after each study and by request.
17. What information do you provide to debrief your client after the project has finished?
Context: One should expect a full sample provider debrief report, including gross sample, start rate, participation rate, drop-out rate, the invitation/contact text, a description of the field work process, and so on. Sample providers should be able to list the standard reports and metrics that they make available.
A standard debrief report at MED.research contains response rate, incidence rate, drop-out rate, average interview length and standard deviation, panelist satisfaction index, summary of respondents' feedback. We may also provide custom report data upon client request.
18. Who is responsible for data quality checks? If it is you, do you have procedures in place to reduce or eliminate undesired survey behaviors, such as (a) random responding, (b) illogical or inconsistent responding, (c) overuse of item non-response (e.g. "Don't Know") or (d) speeding (too rapid survey completion)? Please describe these procedures.
Context: The use of such procedures may increase the reliability and validity of the survey data.
Our data processing team performs a complete check of the dataset, including the following:
Survey logic
Open-ended responses
Completion time (whole survey, or survey sections, or individual questions)
Answers in the survey vs. panelist data profile information
Answers to 'trap' questions.
We remove or replace some artifact cases and mark corresponding panel members as suspicious. After 3 such marks have been issued we add these panelists to our internal black list and they will not be invited to future surveys.
19. How often can the same individual be contacted to take part in a survey within a specified period whether they respond to the contact or not? How does this vary across your sample sources?
Context: Over solicitation may have an impact on respondent engagement or on self-selection and non-response bias.
We have the following rules in place:
not more than 10 invites to an individual per month
not more than 2 reminders for each invitation
not more than 4 complete surveys per month
20. How often can the same individual take part in a survey within a specified period? How does this vary across your sample sources?
How do you manage this within categories and/or time periods?

Context: Frequency of survey participation may increase the risk of undesirable conditioning effects or other potential biases.
We have the following rules in place:
not more than 10 invites to an individual per month
not more than 2 reminders for each invitation
not more than 4 complete surveys per month
21. Do you maintain individual level data such as recent participation history, date of entry, source, etc., on your survey respondents? Are you able to supply your client with a project analysis of such individual level data?
Context: This type of data per respondent, including how the total population is defined and how the sample was selected and drawn, may increase the possibilities for analysis of data quality.
MED.research stores full complete history of all panelists:
Date of registration
Source of recruitment
All invites and reminders sent
Participation history
All this information is available to clients upon request.
22. Do you have a confirmation of respondent identity procedure? Do you have procedures to detect fraudulent respondents? Please describe these procedures as they are implemented at sample source registration and/or at the point of entry to a survey or router. If you offer B2B samples, what are the procedures, if any?
Context: Confirmation of identity can increase quality by decreasing multiple entries, fraudulent panelists, etc.
At MED.research we employ several approaches to prevent fraud:
When paying incentives we check identities through partners responsible for payments delivery.
We confirm information through social networks
We do profile checks against our recruiting partners.
23. Please describe the 'opt-in for market research' processes for all your online sample sources.
Context: The opt-in process indicates the respondents' relationship with the sample source provider. The market generally makes a distinction between single and double opt-in. Double opt-in refers to the process by which a check is made to confirm that the person joining a panel or database wishes to be a member and understands what to expect (in advance of participating in an actual survey for a paying client).
Prospective panel members fill in a registration form at http://research.com.ua/ and agree to its privacy policy and terms and conditions.
When a user is registered, a confirmation email is sent to him (double opt-in).
By clicking a confirmation link in the email, respondent confirms registration in panel. The link leads the user to a page with an extended profile form.
24. Please provide a link to your Privacy Policy. How is your Privacy Policy provided to your respondents?
Context: Not complying with local and international privacy laws might mean the sample provider is operating illegally. An example privacy policy is given in the ESOMAR Guideline for Online Research.
Here's the link to Privacy Policy:
http://research.com.ua/privacy
The link is shown on the main page of our website, users' private cabinets, and on all pages where personal information is collected.
New panel members have to consent to the Privacy Policy during the registration process.
Our Privacy Policy conforms to applicable laws, codes, and regulations, and the codes and standards of market and opinion survey research associations, including CASRO and ESOMAR, as well as local laws in Ukraine.
25. Please describe the measures you take to ensure data protection and data security.
Context: The sample provider usually stores sensitive and confidential information on panelists and clients in databases. These data need to be properly secured and backed-up, as does any confidential information provided by the client. The sample provider should be able to provide you with the latest date at which their security has been evaluated by a credible third-party.
MED.research security policies meet ISO 26362:2009 requirements.
All panelist and respondent information is secured via industry standard firewalls and stringent IT security policies and procedures. All computer equipment (servers, routers, etc.) is located in secure data centers. Access to the data is restricted and requires authorization. Access to participant data is restricted by password and staff job function and is limited to secure company networks or secure VPN. Databases and associated backup files access is restricted by IT job function and role.
Password-protected database roles further restrict data access and force any data modification to be done through the application layer only. All database connections are logged. Web traffic does not directly access the database and database requests are reversed proxy via an application server to the database.
26. What practices do you follow to decide whether online research should be used to present commercially sensitive client data or materials to survey respondents?
Context: There are no foolproof methods for protecting audio, video, still images or concept descriptions in online surveys. In today's social media world, clients should be aware that the combination of technology solutions and respondent confidentiality agreements are "speed bumps" that mitigate but cannot guarantee that a client's stimuli will not be shared or described in social media.
MED.research conducted surveys with sensitive materials.
We use different techniques to prevent leaks:
Disabling of copy/paste buttons or screen capturing
Showing images or texts only for a certain period.
However, we cannot guarantee that the sensitive information is kept confidential because during survey a screenshot can be made by an external device such as a cell phone.
For extremely sensitive materials we advise our clients to choose offline survey approaches.
27. Are you certified to any specific quality system? If so which one(s)?
Context: Being certified may require the supplier to perform tasks in a pre-determined manner and document procedures that should be followed.
MED.research follows ISO 26362:2009 standard: Access panels in market, opinion and social research.
We plan to apply for certification in the nearest future.
28. Do you conduct online surveys with children and young people?
If so, do you adhere to the standards that ESOMAR provides? What other rules or standards, for example COPPA in the United States, do you comply with?

Context: The ICC/ESOMAR International Code requires special permissions for interviewing children. These are described in ESOMAR's Guideline for Online Research. In the USA, researchers must adhere to the requirements of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Further information on legislation and codes of practice can be found in Section 6 of ESOMAR's Guideline for Online Research.
MED.research follows applicable laws and codes related to the protection of children's privacy.

If we need to interview children under 14 years old, we contact a parent or a legal guardian to obtain their permission. We inform them on nature and purpose of the project, provide the URL to the survey and appropriate instructions.