The use of the Internet by the Australian market research industry

Abstract

A census of all organisations in Australia that undertake market research was conducted in 1999 and repeated in 2002. Their use of the Internet for primary data collection was ascertained along with other descriptive data. The growth in use and extent of changes is reported and compared with other, related studies. It was estimated that 34% of market research offices had used the Internet for primary data collection by mid 1999 and this had risen to 46% by mid 2002. For most offices, Internet-based projects accounted for a small proportion of their total activity, the median proportion of income gained being 12% in 2002. Over the period of this study a big increase (244%) has occurred in using the Internet to gain data from employees. The use of email questionnaires has also increased by 77%. The main reasons suggested in the literature for using the Internet and the advantages and disadvantages were largely confirmed.