Dynamically assigning a survey to a respondent

1. A method for assigning a survey to a respondent, the method comprising the steps of:

determining which surveys, of a plurality of electronic surveys stored in a machine-readable medium, constitute a set of active surveys;

after determining which surveys constitute the set of active surveys, performing the steps of

a computerized system automatically generating a set of one or more screening questions by selecting the set of screening questions from a larger set of available screening questions based on a set of one or more factors;

wherein each screening question in said larger set of available screening questions corresponds to one or more surveys in said set of active surveys;

wherein one of the factors used by the computerized system to determine whether a particular available screening question is selected for said set of screening questions hinges on the one or more surveys to which said particular available screening question corresponds;

wherein at least one screening question in said set of one or more screening questions is automatically generated by the computerized system, based on target participation criteria associated with a particular survey of said set of active surveys, to determine whether respondents qualify to take said particular survey;

wherein said computerized system generates the set of one or wore screening questions based on the target participation criteria of at least two distinct surveys in the set of active surveys;

the computerized system sending electronic signals that cause said set of screening questions to be presented to said respondent;

the computerized system receiving input data in response to said respondent answering said set of one or more screening questions; and

the computerized system determining which survey within the previously established set of active surveys to present to said respondent based on how said respondent answered said set of one or more screening questions.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:

receiving over a network an electronic message that represents a request to participate in a survey; and

generating said set of one or more screening questions in response to receiving said electronic message.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the step of receiving a request to participate in a survey comprises the step of receiving said request in response to said respondent selecting a banner that is displayed in an interface window of a client device.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the step of receiving a request to participate in a survey includes the step of receiving, as part of said request, supplemental information that is associated with a client device that was used by said respondent for requesting to participate in a survey.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the step of receiving supplemental information comprises the step of receiving cookie information that is associated with said client device that was used by said respondent for requesting to participate in a survey.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the step of receiving supplemental information comprises the step of receiving URL information that is associated with said client device that was used by said respondent for requesting to participate in a survey.

7. The method of claim 4 , wherein the step of generating said set of one or more screening questions includes the step of generating said set of one or more screening questions based on said supplemental information that is associated with said client device that was used by said respondent for requesting to participate in a survey.

8. The method of claim 2 , wherein:

the step of receiving a request to participate in a survey comprises the step of receiving said request to participate in said survey over a network system; and

the step of generating said set of one or more screening questions further comprises the step of providing said respondent with said one or more screening questions by sending, over said network system, data associated with said one or more screening questions.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of generating a set of one or more screening questions further comprises the step of generating said set of one or more screening questions based on current survey participation data that is associated with said one or more active surveys.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of determining; which survey to present to said respondent comprises the steps of:

based on said input data, identifying a candidate group of one or more surveys from said one or more active surveys; and

selecting a particular active survey from said candidate group of one or more surveys based on current survey participation data associated with the surveys in said candidate group of one or more surveys.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:

maintaining a mapping between target participation criteria and a pool of one or more available screening questions; and

generating said set of one or more screening questions based on said mapping between said target participation criteria and said pool of one or more available screening questions.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein one of the factors used by the computerized system to determine whether the particular available screening question is selected for said set of screening questions is based on an elapsed time since becoming active of the one or more surveys to which said particular available screening question corresponds.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein one of the factors used by the computerized system to determine whether the particular available screening question is selected for said set of screening questions is based on how much time remains until the one or more surveys to which said particular available screening question corresponds is no longer considered active.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein one of the factors used by the computerized system to determine whether the particular available screening question is selected for said set of screening questions is based on a current number of completes that have been obtained for the one or more surveys to which said particular available screening question corresponds.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein one of the factors used by the computerized system to determine whether the particular available screening question is selected for said set of screening questions is based on a rate of acquired completions for the one or more surveys to which said particular available screening question corresponds.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein one of the factors used by the computerized system to determine whether the particular available screening question is selected for said set of screening questions is based on how many completions are still required for the one or more surveys to which said particular available screening question corresponds.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein one of the factors used by the computerized system to determine whether the particular available screening question is selected for said set of screening questions is based on a survey completion rate of the one or more surveys to which said particular available screening question corresponds.

18. A computer-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions for assigning a survey to a respondent, the one or more sequences of one or more instructions including instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

determining which surveys, of a plurality of electronic surveys stored in a machine-readable medium, constitute a set of active surveys;

after determining which surveys constitute the set of active surveys, performing the steps of:

a computerized system automatically generating a set of one or more screening questions by selecting the set of screening questions form a large set of available screening questions based on a set of one or factors;

wherein each screening question in said larger set of available screening questions corresponds to one or more surveys in said set of active surveys;

wherein one of the factors used by the computerized system to determine whether a particular available screening question is selected for said set of screening questions hinges on the one or more surveys to which said particular available screening question corresponds;

wherein at least one screening question in said set of one or more screening questions is automatically generated by the computerized system, based on target participation criteria associated with a particular survey of said set of active surveys, to determine whether respondents qualify to take said particular survey;

wherein said computerized system generates the set of one or more screening questions based on the target participation criteria of at least two distinct surveys in the set of active surveys;

the computerized system sending electronic signals that cause said set of screening questions to be presented to said respondent;

the computerized system receiving input data in response to said respondent answering said set of one or more screening questions; and

the computerized system determining which survey within the previously established set of active surveys to present to said respondent based on how said respondent answered said set of one or more screening questions.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18 , further comprising instructions for performing the steps of:

receiving a request to participate in a survey; and

generating said set of one or more screening questions in response to receiving said request.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 19 , wherein the step of receiving a request to participate in a survey comprises the step of:

receiving said request in response to said respondent selecting a banner that is displayed in an interface window of a client device.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 19 , wherein the step of receiving a request to participate in a survey includes the step of receiving, as part of said request, supplemental information that is associated with a client device that was used by said respondent for requesting to participate in a survey.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 21 , wherein she step of receiving supplemental information comprises the step of receiving cookie information that is associated with said client device that was used by said respondent for requesting to participate in a survey.

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 21 , wherein the step of receiving supplemental information comprises the step of receiving URL information that is associated with said client device that was used by said respondent for requesting to participate in a survey.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 19 , wherein the step of generating said set of one or more screening questions includes the step of generating said set of one or more screening questions based on said supplemental information that is associated with said client device that was used by said respondent for requesting to participate in a survey.

25. The computer-readable medium of claim 19 , wherein:

the step of receiving a request to participate in a survey comprises the step of receiving said request to participate in said survey over a network system; and

the step of generating said set of one or more screening questions further comprises the step of providing said respondent with said one or more screening questions by sending, over said network system, data associated with said one or more screening questions.

26. The computer-readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the step of generating a set of one or more screening questions further comprises the step of generating said set of one or more screening questions based on current survey participation data that is associated with said one or more active surveys.

27. The computer-readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the step of determining which survey to present to said respondent comprises the steps of:

based on said input data, identifying a candidate group of one or more surveys from said one or more active surveys; and

selecting a particular active survey from said candidate group of one or more surveys based on current survey participation data associated with the surveys in said candidate group of one or more surveys.

28. The computer-readable medium of claim 18 , further comprising instructions for performing the steps of:

maintaining a mapping between target participation criteria and a pool of one or more available screening questions; and

generating said set of one or more screening questions based on said mapping between said target participation criteria and said pool of one or more available screening questions.

29. A system for assigning a survey to a respondent, the system comprising:

a memory;

one or more processors coupled to the memory; and

a set of computer instructions contained in the memory, the set of computer instructions including computer instructions which when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

determining which surveys, of a plurality of electronic surveys stored in a machine-readable medium, constitute a set of active surveys;

after determining which surveys constitute the set of active surveys, performing the steps of

automatically generating a set of one or more screening questions by selecting the set of screening questions from a larger set of available screening questions based on a set of one or more factors;

wherein each screening question in said larger set of available screening questions corresponds to one or more surveys in said set of active surveys;

wherein one of the factors used by the computerized system to determine whether a particular available screening question is selected for said set of screening questions hinges on the one or more surveys to which said particular available screening question correspond;

wherein at least one screening question in said set of one or more screening questions is automatically generated by the computerized system, based on target participation criteria associated with a particular survey of said set of active surveys, to determine whether respondents qualify to take said particular survey;

wherein said computerized system generates the set of one or more screening questions based on the target participation criteria of at least two distinct surveys in the set of active surveys;

sending electronic signals that cause said set of screening questions to be presented to said respondent;

receiving input data in response to said respondent answering said set of one or more screening questions; and

determining which survey within the previously established set of active surveys to present to said respondent based on how said respondent answered said set of one or more screening questions.

30. The system of claim 29 , further comprising instructions for performing the steps of:

receiving a request to participate in a survey; and

generating said set of one or more screening questions in response to receiving said request.

31. The system of claim 30 , wherein the step of receiving a request to participate in a survey comprises the step of receiving said request in response to said respondent selecting a banner that is displayed in an interface window of a client device.

32. The system of claim 30 , wherein the step of receiving a request to participate in a survey includes the step of receiving, as part of said request, supplemental information that is associated with a client device that was used by said respondent for requesting to participate in a survey.

33. The system of claim 32 , wherein the step of receiving supplemental information comprises the step of receiving cookie information that is associated with said client device that was used by said respondent for requesting to participate in a survey.

34. The system of claim 32 , wherein the step of receiving supplemental information comprises the step of receiving URL information that is associated with said client device that was used by said respondent for requesting to participate in a survey.

35. The system of claim 32 , wherein the step of generating said set of one or more screening questions includes the step of generating said set of one or more screening questions based on said supplemental information that is associated with said client device that was used by said respondent for requesting to participate in a survey.

36. The system of claim 30 , wherein:

the step of receiving a request to participate in a survey comprises the step of receiving said request to participate in said survey over a network system; and

the step of generating said set of one or more screening questions further comprises the step of providing said respondent with said one or more screening questions by sending, over said network system, data associated with said one or more screening questions.

37. The system of claim 29 , wherein the step of generating a set of one or more screening questions further comprises the step of generating said set of one or more screening questions based on current survey participation data that is associated with said one or more active surveys.

38. The system of claim 29 , wherein the step of determining which survey to present to said respondent comprises the steps of:

based on said input data, identifying a candidate group of one or more surveys from said one or more active surveys; and

selecting a particular active survey from said candidate group of one or more surveys based on current survey participation data associated with the surveys in said candidate group of one or more surveys.

39. The system of claim 29 , further comprising instructions for performing the steps of:

maintaining a mapping between target participation criteria and a pool of one or more available screening questions; and

generating said set of one or more screening questions based on said mapping between said target participation criteria and said pool of one or more available screening questions.