Frequently Asked Questions

The "MRA Verified" seal indicates that a participating panel owner has elected to have certain key items of their report verified. This includes information about their panel size, panel attrition, participation & participation limits, validation offerings,  and incentive offerings. When you see the "MRA Verified" symbol, you know that the panel owner has had MRA confirm that the bulleted techniques listed on the collapsed version of the report are in place. A “not verified” marker indicates that the reported item could not be verified by MRA due to timing, technological, or other difficulties and does not reflect an inaccuracy in the report.  A “not validated” marker indicates a discrepancy between the reported information and MRA’s independent review of the organization.

Please note, MRA verification includes a confirmation that the panel owner has accurately described their performance metrics, validation & engagement technique capacities, and incentive offerings. It does not necessarily confirm the timing, administration, and application details of processes described by the provider in the expanded report for those sections. All panel owners that undergo the Review Program Verification must have these same 5 categories of information verified. MRA typically conducts this verification step through several meetings, including at least one onsite visit to the panel owner’s facility.

In order to make purchasing decisions, purchasers of research and online panels need to collect numerous pieces of information from a variety of research providers. This might be done on an individual basis or through an RFP process. However, getting this information in a standard, meaningful way is often very difficult (if even possible). The MRA Review Program was developed in order to provide standardization, comparability, and transparency to the process of purchasing research and/or online panels. In doing so, MRA included all of the important factors thought to impact data quality. Research purchasers no longer have to guess at the right questions to ask.
Additionally, the information that panel owners input into the system goes through a communications process that makes certain that it is provided at a comparable level of specificity and detail.

Currently, the program is open to general access panels and specialty panels.  Both “full-service” research organizations that utilize their own panels for clients as well as online panel providers may participate.  Program expansions are expected in the future.

Currently, the program is open to general access panels and specialty panels.  Program expansions are expected in the future.

To add your panel into the system, simply click on 'My Account.'  You’ll then need to ‘mark’ the radio button at the bottom of the form to indicate that your organization does own and manage a panel. Your home page will now include a button to link to your panel report.  The final step is to complete and submit the report for review.

Use of MRA Verified Seal

Once an organization has undergone the MRA verification process, they are then eligible to use the “MRA Verified” Seal to note as such while referencing the verified panel. The seal may be transmitted on their website, in promotions, and in other appropriate places or communication mediums. The seal indicates that the organization has gone through the verification process with MRA, and should be represented as such, and only with respect to the panel that has been given “verified status.” Further, if an organization has elected to only include a portion of their panel offerings (e.g. USA versus International) or one specific panel out of several owned/administered panels (general access versus specialty) the organization should only represent the seal as a reference to that panel (or portion of the panel) that has been verified.

Permission for use of the seal is contingent upon the organization maintaining status as MRA Verified, and may be revoked at anytime by MRA if the organization loses that status and/or does not undergo regular re-verification. All organizations must be re-verified once every two years to ensure panel information stays current and reflects organizational, process, and performance changes.

Multi-national companies, or companies that house panels in multiple locations, should fill out the MRA Review Program form to reflect the statistics and processes of the organization as a whole, but should also use the descriptive/essay sections to elaborate any differences between locations.  For example, the “active panel” statistic should be filled out to represent the number of active panelists for the entire organization (all locations).  However, the description section should then list the number of panelists in each location. 

Likewise, the respondent validation form should be filled out to represent the technologies and processes used within the organization.  However, the descriptive section that follows the checklist should elaborate on each location/panel.  Among other details, it should clearly explain which locations utilize which technologies.