US trade body, the Advertising Research Foundation, is making an effort to develop a set of standards in research for buyers and sellers. It has formed the Online Research Quality Council to undertake the task, and enlisted support from the global market research industry to help.
Companies that are supporting the initiative include Ipsos, TNS, ComScore, Synovate, Harris Interactive and the NPD Group.
The council will be managed by a chairman selected from a steering committee of six members. Bob Tomei, executive vice-president and global director of access panels at TNS is the first chairman.
Tomei said: "The market research industry has a significant opportunity to establish and implement standards around online panels that would provide our clients with an objective method to evaluate the quality of the information we are delivering on an ongoing basis."