Online Panels Benchmarking Study, 2015

The Online Panels Benchmarking Study comprised three surveys based on probability samples of the Australian population and five surveys administered to members of non-probability online panels; altogether it includes the data from all eight surveys. The objectives of this study were to: (1) undertake the first Australian study comparing the accuracy of the results obtained from various surveys administered using probability based sampling methods and non-probability based sampling methods; (2) assess the usefulness of selected variables to calibrate non-probability online surveys with population benchmarks in an effort to reduce bias; and (3) compare the findings of this study to similar international studies. The questionnaire administered to these samples, the Health, Wellbeing and Technology Survey, was designed by researchers at the Social Research Centre and included a wide range of demographic measures and questions about health, wellbeing and the use of technology. Data collection for all eight iterations of the Health, Wellbeing and Technology Survey was undertaken between October and December 2015 with varying fieldwork periods designed to accommodate the particular requirements of each survey. All the questions used to measure primary and secondary demographic characteristics and the substantive items were adapted from high quality Federal government surveys. These items were chosen because there were high quality population benchmarks available for these measures. This was a critical part of the overall research design as it enabled the accuracy of the estimates derived from the various probability and non-probability surveys to be compared against each other and against official population benchmarks.