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Depending on the type of survey and on the situation, the sampling is either performed manually by the panel administrator or the participants are automatically added to an internal sample.
There is a number of functions available that allow you to limit the sample according to your needs.
Convenient features, already familiar from the participant administration of personalized projects, will help you manage the participants in your sample.
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Before you start
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Create a panel survey. Make sure that you use the “Panel survey” project type, which is only available for EFS Panel installations.
In the Sample menu, click on the Create sample button.
Enter a title and description.
Confirm by clicking on Submit.
The edit dialog of the new sample is opened. The Overview tab contains basic information about the new sample. Further tabs contain various setting and editing functions. However, it is not yet possible to select all tabs.
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Open the Define basic set tab.
In the top section of the tab, you specify which panel group shall form the basic set for drawing the sample. For detailed explanations of the various options.
First select the group category and then the panel group from which you want to draw the sample.
Optionally, you can use grouping filters and capacity filters to restrict the basic set further.
Optionally, you can restrict the sample to panelists with specific panel statuses.
Also, a maximum number of participants can be defined. Please note: this is only recommendable if you do not use stratification. If the basic set is narrowed down unnecessarily from the beginning, it might not be possible to reach the target values which are explicitly specified during the stratification process.
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The “Extended settings” allow to further narrow the sample. For example, you can specify how many surveys the members of the new groups must have participated in or how many bonus points they must have. For detailed explanations of the various options.
In the “Choose the projects...” section, you can optionally exclude the participants of specific projects from the sample draw. To do so, tick the “Exclude” checkbox after the desired project.
After specifying all criteria, click on the Test filter button.
This will first test-create the sample. A bar will indicate whether panelists meet the conditions and how many of them do. Furthermore, in addition to the Test filter button, you will now see the Activate filter button.
You can make further changes to the filter conditions and test them by clicking on Test filter until the result is to your liking.
After that, click on the Activate filter button.
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The Overview tab now contains information on the size of the new sample. The sample shown in the figure comprises 13 participants.
Optionally, you can define the distribution of certain attributes within the sample in detail on the Stratification tab. This option will only be available until you have created the sample by activating the Draw sample function on the following tab.
After you have applied all desired filter criteria to the members of the new sample and also - if stratification is required - performed all necessary stratifications, open the Draw sample tab. Click the Draw sample button: The sample will now be drawn.
After the sample has been drawn, the Define basic set, Stratification and Draw sample tabs are disabled, the Statistics, View tester list, Sample contents, Inform and Remind again tabs are activated.
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By clicking on the title you will open the edit dialog of the respective sample.
Edit: Opens the properties dialog where you can change the title and description of an existing sample.
Add tester: Opens the View tester list tab
Save in group: Clicking on this icon will create a new panel group including all participants from the sample. Optionally, the “Include participants with completed interviews only” feature can be used to restrict the group to those participants who have completed the survey (disposition codes 31, 32)the sample. Optionally, the “Include participants with completed interviews only” feature can be used to restrict the group to those participants who have completed the survey (disposition codes 31, 32).
Searching all samples
On the Search in all samples tab of the Sample menu you can enter a term in the search field. Clicking on Extended search, opens a search mask, which allows you to perform a detailed search. You can, for instance, select a specific panel status, a specific sample or a status from the respective drop-down menus, or you can enter a name in the free text field Search for Panelists.
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If necessary, you can customize the search mask to your individual needs:
Click on the configuration gear symbol at the very right in the extended search.
Select a variable from the drop-down menu, and click Save.
The variable is now available in the search mask of the extended search.
You have the option of configuring up to 5 additional variables for the use in the extended search. This includes the variable “Pseudonym”, which adds a free text field to the search mask. In this field you can enter several pseudonyms at the same time, which allows you to do mass searches in your panel projects.
Editing a sample
Clicking on the title of a sample will open the edit dialog. On its various tabs you will find the following information and functions:
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On the Basic set tab, you specify which panel group shall form the basic set for drawing the sample and which criteria are to be used for further limiting this basic set. The criteria are explained in the following section.
Basic set
Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
Group category | Groups can be sorted thematically and arranged clearly. |
Group | People offers you various possibilities to form groups (also called "subpanels"). |
Filter | You can use grouping filters for creating samples. |
Capacity filter | The capacity filters can be used for organizing the panelists’ capacity in an optimal way. |
Panelstatus | The most important characteristic of panelists is their panel status: it describes their current role and activity. |
Maximum number of participants | Optionally, you can define how many participants are to be contained in the sample. Please note: limiting the maximum number is only recommendable if you do not use stratification. If the basic set is narrowed down unnecessarily from the beginning, it might not be possible to reach the target values which are explicitly specified during the stratification process. |
Extended settings
Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
Number of completed surveys (based on variable n_poll) | Evaluates the “n_poll” system data item. Please mind: If tracking is activated, evaluation of the variable “track_num_completed” (e.g. via grouping filter) provides you with more |
Number of bonus points | Evaluates the current sum of the bonus points in the panelist’s account. |
Last completed interview at least / not longer than x months ago | Evaluates the system data item last_poll_date. Please mind: If tracking is activated, evaluation of the variable “track_num_completed” (e.g. via grouping filter) provides you with more precise information. |
Panel member since x months | Calculates the time for which the panelist has been a panel member based on the system data item “penter_date”. |
Last updating of master data for x months | |
PCI value | The Panelist Compliance Index enables the reliability of panelists to be captured and recorded in a variable. |
E-mail verification status | Status of the double opt-in e-mail verification |
Variable used to define uniqueness | Each characteristic of this variable will be in the sample not more than once. Please note that finding unique values requires an extra internal processing step. Therefore, if you use this feature, queries will be considerably slower. |
Excluding panelists already participating in other panel surveys
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The following sections first explain the available definition methods and cell value specification modes. This is followed by a description of both the manual definition and the import.
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Available definition methods
The table provides an overview of the definition methods available.
Option | Meaning |
|---|---|
Manual selection of the stratification variables and entry of the target distribution (absolute values) | The stratification is defined manually as usual, the target distribution will be specified in absolute values |
Manual selection of the stratification variables and entry of the target distribution (percentages) | The traditional stratification method involving entry of target distribution as percentage. |
Import of a file containing the stratification settings | The stratification is defined by import, the target distribution will be specified in absolute values. |
Import of a file containing the stratification settings | The stratification is defined by import, the target distribution will be specified in percentages. |
Cell definition mode
Similar to the quotas, there are two ways to define the target values for stratification:
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By clicking on the name or the Edit icon, you can open the detail view of the respective panelist. Additional information can be displayed via View.
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Searching the sample
To search sample members you can use the usual simple search. However via extended search you can use additional limitation criteria:
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A range of participant administration actions are available for editing sample members, such as, for example, the dispatching of e-mails to selected participants, or reset with or without deleting data.
Actions | Description |
|---|---|
Reset and delete data | Status of the panelist in the sample is reset to “active”. If the panelist had already participated in the survey he can participate again. Participant's results data already recorded are deleted. |
Reset without deleting data | Status of the panelist in the sample is reset to “active”. Participant's |
Delete panelist from this sample | Panelist is removed from sample. |
Send e-mail | Using this function, you can send mails to the selected panelists. |
Disposition code 15 (not available) | If invitation mails are bounced, you can set the corresponding panelists to disposition code 15. This code will be taken into account in the field report during evaluation. |
When using an action proceed in a manner analogous to participant administration: Search the desired panelists and mark them in the “Selection” column. Then set the desired action and confirm with Send request.
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