ISO 20252 accreditation: Quality & trust in market research data collection

ISO 20252 accreditation: Quality & trust in market research data collection

Chris Atkins

Why ISO 20252 matters

Market research helps reduce risk. Good quality research helps business leaders understand reality and define the opportunities for growth. The reverse is also true. If decisions are made based on data that lacks quality, they are unintentionally increasing their risk – the exact opposite of the original intention. 

Our purpose is to provide the evidence for effective decision-making. This means data quality that stands up to integrity. It also means that we’re constantly evolving and investing in our quality management, technology, processes, and team. We committed to the ISO 20252 standard for market research services back in 2020, as another way to validate and evidence that the ways in which we work always deliver quality that can be trusted for business leaders. Two years on, we’re delighted to have passed our third annual audit with flying colours. 

What is the ISO 20252 accreditation and what does it cover?

ISO 20252:2019 is the international standard for market, opinion and social research, including insights and data analytics. Ultimately, it demonstrates that an organisation has a quality management system in place that enables the highest quality research and data collection. It gives you the assurance that you will receive trusted data that you can rely on every time, in parallel to a high level of service. 

The standard demonstrates that you have the necessary processes in place to protect personal information – from data collection through to analysis. It also ensures that the latest legislation and regulations (including GDPR) are taken into account, and puts data security at the core of your business.

The global research quality standard provides a framework for:

  • Ensuring timely delivery of quality services
  • Improving operational management and the quality control of research processes
  • Reducing errors and providing a basis for continual improvement

The standard covers all of the core areas of the research and data collection process including:

  • Client quoting
  • Online and CATI data collection
  • Scripting and data processing
  • Survey management, sampling and QC processes
  • Advanced analytics
  • Qual and quant research
  • Coding
  • Panel management
  • IT, HR and data security

ISO 20252 provides reassurance for clients

Data is a vital input to the success of any business. A real time understanding of consumer behaviours and attitudes is now more crucial than ever as consumers react to the cost-of-living crisis and ongoing political turmoil. You need data you can trust to make effective decisions. 

The ISO 20252 standard is an audited standard, meaning that every year our quality management processes and documentation are reviewed, and our team are audited. What it means for you is reassurance. When we talk about quality, these aren’t just words on a PowerPoint slide, rather a solid guarantee that quality runs through our entire organisation. We take data quality very seriously.

For you, this means:

  • Your risk is reduced through our consistent, focused, repeatable high quality data and analysis.
  • Your time and costs are reduced because compliance is assured.
  • Your reputation is not just protected, but enhanced through data that is right first time, every time.
  • You know you will be complying with business, legal, contractual and regulatory requirements, across your industry and internationally.
  • You know all of this is true because the accreditation comes from an independent and internationally recognised accreditation body.

Updated to cover the use of online panels

The ISO 20252:2019 standard was updated to cover the use of online panels. It covers all aspects of access panels from recruitment through to validation and best practice on retention, activity, and panel use. It means that the highest standards in online panels are maintained, and evidence has been provided that best-in-class processes are adopted.

Y Live, our online panel, delivers engagement rates far above industry average. The best panels value their members. Placing your respondents at the heart of the research process is fundamental in delivering data that can be trusted first time. 

An ever-evolving approach

Committing to the ISO20252 standard is a long-term adherence to quality. It’s not something we complete and then ignore. It’s a commitment to a continuous evolution of quality that runs through our entire business and evolves and adapts in response to new challenges.

We are proud that we have achieved the ISO2052 standard for three years running. It’s a way to evidence that our team and our processes act as one, to deliver quality data which feeds into our client’s most important business decisions. 

We’re now into our third year of achieving this standard. During this time, we’ve proactively evolved and adapted how we work to close any gaps in our quality management system. We are always looking for, and adopting new ways to improve. That’s something that will not change – it’s really important to us.

Congratulations and a big thank you to our Data Protection Officer Mike Wooderson, who leads us tremendously on the ISO front, and to all of the fabulous team who commit to and live the quality standards that we adhere to every day.

If you would like to talk to us more about quality data collection and what ISO 20252 means for you, drop me a line: chris.atkins@yonderdatasolutions.com