Tuesday, December 05, 2006
I Bet Mine is Bigger Than Yours
When people talk about panels they always end up talking about or referring to panel size as some metric of the health of the panel:
My panel is better because it is bigger
We are further ahead - ours is bigger...
Since when has size really made much difference? Don't get me wrong size can help in quality sampling, but let's be honest there are very few people out there who really know sampling theory and practice. Indeed, many of the new panels are proud to say that they are not run by researchers! Says it all I think...
But size is just one factor. You don't judge a cricket team only by its batting line up (sorry England) you must look at the component parts like fielding, team spirit, bowling and so on. And so with panels you must look at effective response rates, core-cooperators, panel composition, survey demand, tracking frequency and so on.
Maybe this is all too hard - it's just easier to outsource...
My panel is better because it is bigger
We are further ahead - ours is bigger...
Since when has size really made much difference? Don't get me wrong size can help in quality sampling, but let's be honest there are very few people out there who really know sampling theory and practice. Indeed, many of the new panels are proud to say that they are not run by researchers! Says it all I think...
But size is just one factor. You don't judge a cricket team only by its batting line up (sorry England) you must look at the component parts like fielding, team spirit, bowling and so on. And so with panels you must look at effective response rates, core-cooperators, panel composition, survey demand, tracking frequency and so on.
Maybe this is all too hard - it's just easier to outsource...
