Q:
| Will I be asked to buy anything? |
A:
| No. Neither Advantage Research nor our clients will ever ask you to purchase anything as part of or as a result of participating in a research study. We conduct research studies solely to learn from you about the products and services you use. |
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Q:
| Do I need to prepare? |
A:
| No. We ask only for you to express your opinions candidly. |
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Q:
| How will my opinions be used? |
A:
| Your opinions will be aggregated with others to help our client company make decisions about their products or services. Advantage Research will analyze the answers that all respondents provide as a group, and will not attribute specific responses to you as an individual. Therefore, you should feel completely comfortable in expressing your candid opinion. |
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Q:
| How many people are asked to participate in any one survey? |
A:
| The total number of people participating in a survey varies, but can range from only 50 or so up to 10,000 or more. Focus groups on the other hand are small group discussions with usually 10-12 participants. |
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Q:
| Who does Advantage Research do research for? |
A:
| Advantage Research is an independent research firm which conducts surveys and focus groups for a variety of companies, in a variety of industries, and on a variety of topics. We are not a part of nor have a formal business partnership with any other company. |
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Q:
| Do you do research with minors? |
A:
| Laws require that parental permission be obtained for any research done with people under the age of 16. Most research surveys require respondents to be the head of their household and at least 18 years old. However, Advantage Research does some research on behalf of higher education institutions who are interested in the opinions of high school students in their college selection years. Sometimes phone numbers are obtained for these studies from lists of students who have contacted the college or university. If focus group research is done with this audience, Advantage Research makes every effort to inform the parents of students involved as well as inform their high schools. |
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Q:
| Will I know which company is sponsoring a study I participate in? |
A:
| Sometimes. In many research studies, knowledge of the study's sponsor could bias the way you answer. For example, if a survey asked you to quickly name the first three fast food restaurants that come to mind, it would affect your answer if immediately prior to that you were told that a particular restaurant was the sponsor of the study. In other cases it is necessary for you to know the sponsor of the study in order to be able to answer the questions. Sometimes we will reveal the name of the sponsor of the study part of the way through the survey or focus group, and other times at the end. If you are curious, there is never any harm in asking. |
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