By: Monique Morden – EVP of Vision Critical

Panels. Communities. Community Panels. It’s not just semantics. Over the past year, there has been some blurring in the world of proprietary communities and panels. The two worlds are colliding to create a slightly morphed version of the two. But let’s back up a bit.

Panels have traditionally referred to quantitative research involving larger sample sizes, usually in the thousands. Panels provide clients with a cost effective mechanism for obtaining large sample sizes for their survey research and, with those larger samples, an ability to analyze results by multiple sub-segments. These panels are used for survey research based on a one-way communication mechanism where the researcher pushes out questions and waits for panel members to respond.

Communities have traditionally been qualitative in nature with the key element being that community members can interact with each other. No longer is the dialogue a one-way street from the researcher to the respondent. Discussion forums, live chats, photo galleries and other qualitative tools enable the members to share and discuss a variety of topics with each other in a more unstructured format. Historically, the number of members in a community is smaller in number – 500 at most. So even if quantitative surveys are deployed among these communities, the small base size and specialized nature of the community members necessitates a qualitative interpretation of apparently quantitative data.

As has happened in most of the online world, there has been a collision and melding of concepts. Communities and panels are colliding to create a new hybrid version resulting in more flexibility and options for the client but, perhaps, with some trade-offs. “Community Panel” has become a more common terminology, as of late, representing the best of both worlds and the ability to do quantitative AND qualitative research. Community Panels offer clients a larger pool of members than a traditional community – generally in the thousands to tens of thousands as opposed to 300-500 members – thereby allowing for true quantitative research among the broader customer base as well as among sub-segments. The qualitative community aspects are facilitated by breakout communities which can be defined by detailed criteria depending on need. The depth and breadth of the qualitative interaction can be addressed by controlling the type and number of activities, as well as length of time for this interaction (weeks, months, years).

Being as a Community Panel is a slightly different beast then a traditional panel or a traditional community, different recruitment strategies, different incentive programs, different research programs, different burden rules and overall management are required. Clients are finding more and more that Community Panels are the sweet spot for their research needs, offering both qual and quant.