In higher education, academic research plays a critical role as it helps researchers explore their topics, test out ideas, make informed decisions, and determine the feasibility of their study. 

Traditionally, panel research has been the go-to method for researchers in the academe sector, but it had its challenges. The traditional methods such as face-to-face and telephone interviews were a tedious process, which often resulted in a lack of diversity and skewed sampling frames, ultimately affecting the overall quality of data collection. Fortunately, with the advent of digital panels made possible by panel providers, conducting panel research is now available online, and the process has become much easier and has a significant impact on academic research.

The online platforms offered by panel providers allow researchers to access a diverse range of participants and collect quality data for their research. In addition, panel providers are far more cost-efficient that also offer secure and easy-to-use platforms for respondents making the whole process simplified, from designing the study questionnaire to collecting and analyzing the data. 

So, let's dive deeper and explore the benefits of a panel provider for your academic research.

How a panel provider can help your academic research  

Here's how a panel provider ensures that researchers are provided access to reliable information that is vital and impactful to their work.

Access to a diverse audience

Having a diverse audience is essential in academic research, to ensure the study's results are representative of the population being studied. This is a crucial part of the recruitment and panel providers must recruit participants from diverse backgrounds, regardless of location or identity, this is so researchers are provided with a comprehensive view of their target population. 

Panel providers leveraged online platforms such as social media, email, SMS, and website when reaching out to and recruiting participants from diverse communities. After all, whatever the subject of the academic research may be, there are people who are discussing online about it. Aside from eligibility criteria, a participant's anonymity to those who are reluctant to disclose their identity is also offered. This way, they can still participate in surveys and share their perspectives.

Profiling and screening of panel audience

To give academic researchers authentic and genuine participants, panel providers are responsible for verifying all participants, and screening out those that do not qualify for the target sample. It's an essential step that panel providers must take to ensure that participants met the specific requirements of the study, whether it be age, gender, location, or other relevant criteria. It can save researchers time and resources instead of manually filtering through responses, panel providers do the work for them and present a diverse and representative sample that accurately reflects the target population. Academic researchers can instead focus on analyzing the data and drawing insights from it. 

Cost-efficient data quality with unique representation

Panel providers can save time and reduce market research costs because respondents can participate anytime and anywhere, which also allows them to provide well-articulated and detailed information without rushing, resulting in higher response rates and reducing the risk of biased data. Researchers will have better-quality data, leading to more meaningful insights and a better understanding of the target audience, ultimately collaborating with a panel provider can prove to be a cost-effective and efficient approach to conducting research. 

How dataSpring can help your academic research 

dataSpring understands that these benefits are crucial for every academic researcher and our comprehensive suite of market research solutions provides access to communities of 2 million+ active panels of online survey respondents across 12 countries in Asia, supported by our cultural and local language expertise. dataSpring ensures delivering high-quality data and quick turn-around times, providing insightful results at a great value to serve your research needs. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help with your research! 

You can also check out our panel book here if you want to know more about panel research in Asia! See you at our next one!