Method and system for screening and evaluation of research panel members
View Patent ↗System and method for optimizing composition of a pool from which members are selected to serve on market research panels are described. In one embodiment, the system includes a database comprising a plurality of member profiles and survey data associated with the members and a datamart for periodically scanning the database to discover events and subsequently logging each of the discovered events in an event log. The system further includes an offense module for periodically evaluating the event log to determine whether one of the discovered events comprises an offense committed by one of the members and logging the offense in an offense log and an audit module for performing an audit of the one of the members and logging results of the audit in an audit log.
1. A system for optimizing composition of a pool from which members are selected to serve on market research panels, the system comprising:
one or more computers having computer-readable storage media to which a database is stored, said database comprising a plurality of member profiles and survey data associated with the members;
a datamart for periodically scanning the database to discover events and subsequently logging details of each of the discovered events in an event log, wherein the events relate to member activity in connection with survey participation and wherein details of each of the discovered events comprise an identity of the member associated with the event;
an offense module for periodically evaluating the event log to determine whether one of the discovered events comprises an offense committed by one of the members and logging the offense in an offense log, wherein the offense is an event that has been deemed to have a negative impact on overall panel quality either alone or in combination with another offense;
an audit module for performing an audit of the one of the members and logging results of the audit in an audit log, wherein the audit determines a fitness of the audited member to continue to serve on market research panels; and
wherein said members receive rewards for their participation in surveys, and wherein said audit results contains information pertaining to whether the offense is indicative of the audited member behaving in a manner that has a negative impact on overall panel quality in an effort to receive rewards.
2. The system of claim 1 further comprising a decision module for evaluating the audit results and determining a course of action with respect to the one of the members based on the evaluation.
3. The system of claim 2 wherein the recommended course of action is selected from a group consisting of permanent expulsion from the pool, temporary suspension from the pool, and immediate return to the pool.
4. The system of claim 1 further comprising:
an audit trigger module comprising an audit trigger associated with one or more offenses and wherein the trigger defines a corresponding audit to be performed by the audit module in response to the one or more offenses being detected in the offense log by the audit trigger module.
5. The system of claim 4 wherein the performing an audit comprises performing at least one audit test defined by the trigger.
6. The system of claim 5 wherein the at least one audit test comprises a test selected from a group of test consisting of identity verification tests, trap survey tests, subject matter tests, manual tests, and duplicate identity tests.
7. The system of claim 1 wherein the offense is of an offense type selected from a group consisting of a client feedback loop selection offense, profile update, an enrollment survey complete offense, an internal survey complete offense, an external survey complete offense, a reward redemption offense, and an earning reward points offense.
8. A system for optimizing composition of a pool from which members are selected to serve on market research panels, the system comprising:
means for storing a plurality of member profiles and survey data associated with the members;
means for periodically scanning the database to discover events and subsequently logging details of each of the discovered events in an event log, wherein the events relate to member activity in connection with survey participation and wherein details of each of the discovered events comprise an identity of the member associated with the event;
means for periodically evaluating the event log to determine whether one of the discovered events comprises an offense committed by one of the members and logging the offense in an offense log, wherein the offense is an event that has been deemed to have a negative impact on overall panel quality either alone or in combination with another offense.
9. The system of claim 8 further comprising means for evaluating the audit results and determining a course of action with respect to the one of the members based on the evaluation.
10. The system of claim 9 wherein the recommended course of action is selected from a group consisting of permanent expulsion from the pool, temporary suspension from the pool, and immediate return to the pool.
11. The system of claim 8 further comprising:
means for periodically evaluating the offense log, the offense log evaluating means comprising an audit trigger that defines a corresponding audit to be performed by the means for performing an audit in response to one or more offenses being detected in the offense log by the offense log evaluating means.
12. The system of claim 11 wherein the performing an audit comprises performing at least one audit test defined by the audit.
13. The system of claim 12 wherein the at least one audit test comprises a test selected from a group of tests consisting of identity verification tests, trap survey tests, subject matter tests, manual tests, and duplicate identity tests.
14. The system of claim 8 wherein the offense is of an offense type selected from a group consisting of a client feedback loop selection offense, profile update, and enrollment survey complete offense, an internal survey complete offense, an external survey complete offense, a reward redemption offense, and an earning reward points offense.
15. A method for optimizing composition of a pool from which members are selected to serve on market research panels, the method comprising:
storing a plurality of member profiles and survey data associated with the members in a database;
periodically scanning the database to discover events and subsequently logging details of each of the discovered events in an event log, wherein the events relate to member activity in connection with survey participation and wherein details of each of the discovered events comprise an identity of the member associated with the event;
periodically evaluating the event log to determine whether one of the discovered events comprises an offense committed by one of the members and logging the offense in an offense log, wherein the offense is an event that has been deemed to have a negative impact on overall panel quality either alone or in combination with another offense;
performing, by one or more computers, an audit of the one of the members and logging results of the audit in an audit log;
determining, by the one or more computers, based at least in part on the results of the audit, a fitness of the audited member to continue to serve on market research panels; and
rewarding said members for their participation in surveys; and
wherein said determining said fitness of the audited member to continue to serve on market research panels audit comprises determining whether the offense is indicative of the audited member behaving in a manner that has a negative impact on overall panel quality in an effort to receive rewards.
16. The method of claim 15 wherein the determining comprises evaluating the audit results and determining a course of action with respect to the one of the members based on the evaluation.
17. The method of claim 16 wherein the determined course of action is selected from a group consisting of permanent expulsion from the pool, temporary suspension from the pool, and immediate return to the pool.
18. The method of claim 15 wherein the offense has a trigger associated therewith, the trigger defining a corresponding audit of the one of the members and wherein the performing an audit comprises performing at least one audit test defined by the corresponding audit.
19. The method of claim 18 wherein the at least one audit test comprises a test selected from a group of tests consisting of identity verification tests, trap survey tests, subject matter tests, manual tests, and duplicate identity tests.
20. The method of claim 15 wherein the offense is of an offense type selected from a group consisting of a client feedback loop selection offense, profile update, an enrollment survey complete offense, an internal survey complete offense, an external survey complete offense, a reward redemption offense, and an earning reward points offense.
21. The system of claim 1 wherein said datamart, said offense module, and said audit module further comprise instructions stored to computer-readable media that when executable by one or more computers cause the computers to perform said periodically scanning the database to discover events and subsequently logging details of each of the discovered events in the event log, said periodically evaluating the event log to determine whether one of the discovered events comprises an offense committed by one of the members and logging the offense in the offense log, and said performing an audit of the one of the members and logging results of the audit in the audit log.
22. The system of claim 1 wherein the audit results contains information pertaining to whether the offense is indicative of the audited member providing false profile information in an effort to qualify for participation in certain market research panels for which the audited member would otherwise not qualify.
23. The system of claim 1 wherein the audit results contains information pertaining to whether the offense is indicative of the audited member either a) intentionally answering survey questions inaccurately or b) failing to devote sufficient time and/or attention to answering survey questions accurately.
24. The system of claim 1 further comprising:
an audit trigger module for determining, from the offense log, whether to trigger an audit of the one of the members by said audit module.
25. The system of claim 24 wherein the audit trigger module determines whether to trigger the audit based on one or more of timing, frequency, and combination of offenses in the offense log.
26. The system of claim 24 wherein the audit trigger module determines, based at least on part on one or more offenses in the offense log, to expel the one of the members from the pool without first triggering an audit of the one of the members.
27. The method of claim 15 wherein said database is stored to a computer-readable media.
28. The method of claim 15 wherein said storing comprises:
storing to one or more computers having computer-readable medium to which said database is stored.
29. The method of claim 28 further comprising:
performing said periodically scanning the database to discover events and subsequently logging details of each of the discovered events in the event log by datamart logic;
performing said periodically evaluating the event log to determine whether one of the discovered events comprises an offense committed by one of the members and logging the offense in the offense log by an offense module; and
performing said audit of the one of the members and logging results of the audit in the audit log by an audit module.
30. The method of claim 29 wherein said datamart logic, said offense module, and said audit module comprise instructions stored to computer-readable media that when executable by one or more computers cause the computers to perform the respective operations.
31. The method of claim 15 wherein the audit results contains information pertaining to whether the offense is indicative of the audited member providing false profile information in an effort to qualify for participation in certain market research panels for which the audited member would otherwise not qualify.
32. The method of claim 15 wherein the audit results contains information pertaining to whether the offense is indicative of the audited member either a) intentionally answering survey questions inaccurately or b) failing to devote sufficient time and/or attention to answering survey questions accurately.