Frequently Asked Questions
What are Online Surveys?
Online
Market Research is a growing trend that gives companies a reliable alternative
to traditional ways of collecting consumer opinions. Online Surveys are
web-based questionnaires that allow companies to learn what consumers think
about their products and services.
What are Online Survey Panels?
Online
survey panels are hosted by Market Research companies. These companies gather
willing consumers with different demographics and geographic locations that
which to share their opinions. By forming these online panels, Market Research
companies can than perform host online surveys on new products and services on
behalf of their corporate clients. The answers from all the participants are
then compiled by the market research company and presented to their client.
How do paid survey companies pay you?
Paid
Survey Companies conduct market research on behalf of companies that produce
products and sell services. They offer you cash and prizes in exchange for your
time and consumer opinions. Companies are constantly trying to improve their
products, and before they launch a new product and an expensive advertising
campaign, they need to know about consumer preferences. Online surveys are an
easy way for collecting consumer opinions to guide these companies. In exchange
for your opinions they will compensate you with cash, prizes, or sweepstakes
entries. Some of them even send you sample products, and pay you to conduct
product evaluations.
How much money can you make taking paid surveys?
Typical
cash paying surveys take 10 to 30 minutes to complete, and the cash paying
surveys generally reward you $1 to $10 or possible more for every survey you
complete. Others may give you gift certificates or enter you into sweepstakes
for cash or prizes. Some sites occasionally offer focus groups. These usually
lasts 1 or 2 hours, but generally pay more than $50. For more details and user
comments about a particular paid survey site be sure read the reviews for the
particular panel.
Why do survey panels ask for personal information? Is it safe?
Survey
Panels ask for personal information like age, hobbies, number of children,
annual income, etc. so that they can build a database of people and their
corresponding demographic information. This allows the market research panels
to match potential survey takers with the product or service being studied.
Music videos, for example, are more likely to be viewed by young people than by
older people, so that in a survey about music videos, it would be important to
ask the respondent for his or her age.
Some
survey panels may ask for your address for several purposes--to send a new
product to your home to test or to send you an incentive for completing the
survey.
The
important thing to remember is that respondents\' names and other identifying
information are kept strictly confidential. Most respected market research
panels follow CASRO\'s Code of Standards for Survey Research. This code must be
followed by all CASRO members as a condition of membership and requires survey
research companies to protect the identities of respondents, and to insure that
individuals and their responses cannot be related.
Will survey panels try to sell me things?
No.
survey panels are only interested in summarized information on the attitudes,
opinions, market practices, etc. of the sampled consumer groups. Some panels
may offer you gift rewards or products to try as part of a study, however sales
or solicitation is not acceptable or permitted in legitimate and professionally
conducted survey research.
Are there paid survey sites for teens under 18?
Yes,
there are several survey panels that accept teens 13 and older. For a list of
legitimate paid survey panels that teens can join, please check out our teen surveys page.
I don’t live in the US or Canada, can I still participate in
Online Surveys?
While it
is true, several of the survey panels we list on this site only accept US and
Canadian residents, there is a growing list of survey panels that are looking
for international panel members. We have dedicated paid survey directory pages
for many nations. To find surveys for your country please visit the
corresponding page for your country.
How many surveys can I expect to receive per month?
The
number of surveys you will receive depends on your demographic profile. Survey
panels conduct different studies for different customers, and each study will generally
target a particular segment of population depending on the requirements of the
client. For instance a survey study about a new shaving gel would target adult
males, while a study about a new portable digital music player may target teens
and young adults. The number of surveys you will receive also depends on the
survey panel as well. Some survey panels will send more frequent survey
invitations than others. The best way to ensure that you receive the maximum
number of paid surveys is to join as many of the recommended paid survey sites
as you have time for and to complete your various profiles for each survey
panel. The profiles are very important because they help the survey companies
match the surveys to the desired segment of the population as required by the
study.
Are paid survey panels free to join? Will I ever have to buy
anything?
Yes, all
of the paid survey panels listed on this site are free to join. That is because
we only list legitimate market research panels. There are lots of sites out
there that would have you thing that taking surveys involves paying for trial
offers of services and products, but THIS IS NOT THE CASE. While it is true
some survey panels may send you things in the mail to try as part of a survey
study, they will never charge your for the products or ask for any compensation
other than completion of the survey study.
Why do you have to be at least 13 years old to participate in
online survey panels?
The
Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) dictates that online survey
panels cannot accept panelists under the age of 13 to register directly their
panel. However, input from children is still needed, and in these cases parents
that are panel members are often asked to provide input from their children for
specific studies
Is there a limit to the number of survey panels you can join?
No, there
is no limit. Since each of the online paid survey panels is generally hosted by
a separate Market Research Company, you can join as many as you wish. Each
maintains their own database of users. However, you will generally have the
best results if try to focus on a core group of survey panels, and participate
in them fully by keeping your profiles up to date and answers all survey
questions thoughtfully. Of course, that "core number" can vary
depending on how much free time you have.
How do I get started with Paid Surveys?
Getting
started with Paid Surveys is easy. You just need to have an email address and
meet the basic residency/age requirements of the survey panel you wish to join.
If you are 18 or older and a resident of the United States, Canada, or the
United Kingdom you have many survey panels to choose from. If not, there are
still many options.
To get
off to a quick start, check out the Top Ten User Rated Survey Panels on the
home page. I would suggest you get started by signing up with 5 to 10 survey
panels to get started. You will then start receiving paid survey invitations
via email from each of the panels. Most surveys can be completed in 15 to 30
minutes, and incentives offered will vary depending on the length of the study
and the survey panel hosting the study. If you find that you enjoy taking
surveys online, and wish to take more surveys, than I suggest you join more of
the panels featured on this site.
All the
survey panels that we list on this site are free to join, and do not require a
credit card or bank account to join. My only suggestion is that you may want to
sign up for a PayPal account if you don’t already have one, since many of the
survey panels offer Payment via PayPal.
umanwam@gmail.com
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment