With Prime Panels, we ask clients to collect any relevant demographic information they’re interested in knowing within their survey. Including a “demographics” section in one’s survey, either at the beginning or end, is a commonly accepted practice. While we’re using pre-profiled, demographic information to recruit respondents based on the specifics of any given project, matching individual demographics to individual participants is a tedious process, which will incur the client additional costs. Prime Panels being an aggregation of hundreds of individual online research panels, this information is available, but not easily accessible.
Additionally, collecting this information within one’s survey ensures it’s up to date and accurate at the time respondents are participating (this is particularly relevant for variable demographic information (think education and income levels, location, etc.)). If a respondent has moved, gained a higher education or income level since signing up to participate in online research, this new information may not be reflected in their panel profiles.
With Connect, we would be able to provide you with demographic information matched up to participant's Connect IDs. Connect being a proprietary source for CloudResearch, this information is much more easily accessible.