SSI Dynamix™ is Essential to Sustainable Research

SSI Dynamix is a technology platform that creates better respondent experiences, smart panel utilization, and-if required-dynamic and controlled access to Web sourcing from thousands of online properties including social media.

Since 2000, Internet use worldwide has grown a staggering 380%, Internet World reports. Email use has exploded. There are now 1.4 billion email users worldwide, according to the Radicati Group. Over the last year, 90 trillion emails were sent—81% of them spam. Partly as a result of a transformation in the way people communicate, survey response rates are declining. Clearly, online panels are no longer enough to sustain research. But, don't be fooled—the millions of blogs that exist on the Internet prove that people are eager to share their opinions.

To connect with people in new, more effective ways, SSI developed SSI Dynamix, a unique platform that seamlessly integrates panels, social media, websites and more. Launched in February after two years in development, SSI Dynamix improves all aspects of online sampling: reach, participant experience, data integrity and respondent engagement.

From a participant's point of view, SSI Dynamix enhances the survey taking experience. People are no longer sampled for individual projects but offered one of many surveys for which they may qualify at the time they want to take a survey. Screen-outs are reduced, increasing satisfaction with the research process.

 

Methodology Improves Data Integrity and Lowers Drop Out Rates

Importantly, SSI Dynamix delivers the methodological rigor to ensure accuracy. Proven processes strengthen data integrity, including advanced methods, such as digital fingerprinting, to verify and de-dupe respondents. In addition, built-in approaches balance sample, control overlap and provide stringent quality checks.

SSI Dynamix's improved methodology incorporates real-time, dynamic profiling so participants' data is fresh. It tracks and builds on stored information for each participant-integrating both the sampling controls of panels and the broad reach of the Web.

Multiple levels of randomization are built into the system, both in questions and survey assignment. Sets of random refinement questions determine the project for which the respondent qualifies. Then, an added level of randomness is embedded in the system to select the best survey for the participant to complete at that moment.

SSI Dynamix removes the self-selection bias inherent in traditional contact methods. Participants are presented with only one survey at a time. Without visibility into other survey opportunities, there is less incentive to switch mid-survey leading to lower drop out rates.

Inherent in major change such as the SSI Dynamix process are certain methodological questions:

• How does the process of asking refinement questions before participants enter a survey chosen for them affect or cause non-coverage errors, over- or under-qualification errors, or errors caused by halo or question order effects?
• Does sending a general email invitation to cover multiple surveys compared to the one-email-per-survey approach change qualification rates?

 

Prior to launching SSI Dynamix, SSI's Knowledge team conducted extensive research to examine and quantify these issues. The study simulated the SSI Dynamix system by re-running a diverse group of real projects originally run on SSI's system pre-Dynamix. Results of the experiment confirm that SSI Dynamix does not introduce bias that could materially affect the data and is a better sampling approach.

 

This content was provided by Survey Sampling International. For a copy of the SSI Dynamix brochure, please click here. For more information, email [email protected]. Visit their website at www.surveysampling.com.