Client Demand, Population Trends Drive Expansion of Knowledge Networks Online Panel

NEW YORK, Jan. 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Reflecting strong client demand and important population shifts, Knowledge Networks is significantly expanding the number of young adults and Hispanics on KnowledgePanel® – the only online panel based on a representative sample of the full U.S. population.  In 2011, Knowledge Networks will more than double the number of young adults (ages 18 to 24) on KnowledgePanel®, and will increase its representation of Hispanics by more than 40%. Thanks to this increased online survey capacity, clients using KnowledgePanel® and KnowledgePanel Latino(SM) will have more statistical power for studies of the entire U.S. and its subpopulations, including these two key groups.

Hispanics are among the most in-demand and difficult-to-reach populations for research. With this panel expansion, Hispanics will represent 14.6% of KnowledgePanel® – in keeping with November 2010 Census Bureau estimates, which put Hispanics at 14.1% of the total U.S. adult population. Young adults, who are similarly hard to recruit and retain, will account for about 9.4% of KnowledgePanel in 2011, compared to the Census Bureau's estimate of 12.6%.

"This expansion of KnowledgePanel exemplifies our commitment to giving clients unmatched ability to conduct online research that is projectable," said Patricia Graham, Chief Strategy Officer of Knowledge Networks.  "It is no accident that many of the populations most needed for research are also increasingly difficult to capture in a scientifically valid way.  Declining respondent cooperation and the dramatic rise in cell phone-only households have made it much harder to conduct representative surveys of young adults and Hispanics.  Through our panel expansion, we are meeting our clients' needs by making these groups more available for research on KnowledgePanel, and doing so by leveraging Address-Based Sampling (ABS) recruitment methods that have proven effective for KN in recruiting these groups."  

According to 2010 findings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 40% of young adults (ages 18 to 24) now live in cell phone-only households, compared to 27% of the general U.S. population.  This makes the 18-to-24 group much more difficult to represent accurately in surveys, since they cannot be easily or accurately contacted by traditional random digit dialing (RDD) telephone methodology.  

As the recognized industry leader in probability-based online surveys, Knowledge Networks is addressing this problem by carrying out the panel expansion using probability-based sampling.  KN will sample young adults using ABS exclusively; for Hispanics, KN will replace the use of surname lists with probabilistic sampling methods (ABS sampling supplemented with RDD sampling).

Knowledge Networks is passionate about research in marketing, media, health and social policy – collaborating closely with client teams throughout the research process, while applying rigor in everything we do.  We specialize in innovative online research that consistently gives leaders in business, government, and academia the confidence to make important decisions.

KN delivers affordable, statistically valid online research through KnowledgePanel® and leverages a variety of other assets, such as world class advanced analytics, an industry-leading physician panel, an innovative platform for measuring online ad effectiveness, and a research-ready behavioral database of frequent supermarket and drug store shoppers.

For more information, contact Mike Dennis (Executive Vice President, Government & Academic Research) at (650) 289-2160 or [email protected], or Patricia Graham (Chief Strategy Officer) at (312) 416-3660 or [email protected].

SOURCE Knowledge Networks