Who Cares About Panel Recruiting Practices?

Apparently many people do and with good reason. We recently posted a poll on LinkedIn. The question posed was, "When you select a sample provider, how much importance do you place on their panel recruitment process?"
Is it:
1. Not at all important
2. Somewhat important
3. Important
4. Very important
5. Extremely important
While the results derived are from a sample of nfl jersey convenience and hardly scientific, they are nevertheless instructional. So what did the 96 people (as of 2-2-2010) who took time to participate tell us?
1% Not at all important
13% Somewhat important
15% Important
37% Very important
32% Extremely important
If you are a panel provider and you didn't already know that recruitment practices play a deciding factor, it surely would be obvious now, with nearly seven out of ten (69%) prospective buyers voting "very and extremely" important.
Women are more likely to view recruitment as very or extremely important (72%) than men (54%) are. Differences by age were interesting. There was a very small portion of the sample (N~9) under the age of 35 and none of these younger folks voted extremely important. Although half of the 25-34 year old group did vote this issue was "very important."
The 35-54 age cohort, which was the largest age group in the sample, had a high proportion of votes in the extremely important category (27%) and another 41% who voted very important. The oldest group (55+) did not share this concern, only 17% said very important and nfl jerseys the rest said recruiting was only important or somewhat important.
Job function seems related to this issue. Academics, perhaps not surprisingly, all voted extremely important (100%, N~17). Business development folks were at the opposite end of the spectrum with 100% (N~17) voting somewhat important. Technical professionals (N~17) all (100%) said that recruitment was important. Marketing professional (N~31) were split 50% very important and 50% important.
What can we learn from examining the results of this poll? I think the message is straightforward. Our teachers and professors (academics) would want us to be the best we can be. They are setting the standard higher than business professionals are; I think we should all heed the lesson they are promoting through the votes they gave. It is a very clear (100%) message.
Women are more likely to hear that message than are men. While equal proportions of men and women voted extremely important. A much larger proportion of women than men voted very important, 43% to 25%, respectively.
The people in marketing who depend on data to make decisions were also more likely to place a higher value on recruitment (50% voted very important and the other 50% important), which is of course a quality indicator. Those business professionals, that one could argue, have less immediately at stake, such as business development folks, seem to be less concerned (100% voted somewhat important).
Overall, this simple polling question seems to have hit a nerve. We believe that sample development is one of the cornerstones of good research. Market research is not an academic exercise. Real business decisions are made, or at least influenced, by the results of nfl jerseys the research conducted.
How can you make a good business decision if the sample is faulty? Simply put, in my opinion you can't.