On January 5, 2017, CASRO and MRA merged to form the Insights Association, the largest US-based organization supporting marketing research professionals. With access to massive amounts of educational resources, American market researchers now have one strong voice with which to advocate their industry.
CASRO (Council of American Survey Research Organizations), which was founded in 1975, represented more than 300 companies, and 85% of the U.S. research industry. Their rigorous codes of conducts and standards had set esteemed benchmarks for the industry.
MRA (Marketing Research Association), founded in 1957, was the largest US association for the opinion and marketing research profession. For decades, they helped guide company decisions regarding products and services offered to consumers and businesses.
Similar to ESOMAR (which is Europe’s premier marketing research association), the Insights Association will now champion the interests of US marketing researchers.
What this means for you
New logo for Insights Association members as featured on http://www.marketingresearch.org/insights-association-logos
For online survey takers, this merger means being on the lookout for the new Insights Association logo (instead of CASRO’s or MRA’s) on survey panel and market research websites. This new logo signifies the survey site’s compliance with the Insights Association’s Code of Marketing Research Standards, which outlines ethical conduct with regards to the responsibility held to respondents (i.e. survey takers). In May 2018, the code was updated.
Whenever you consider joining a new online survey panel, ensure you do your due diligence, before being faced with the consequences of falling prey to a survey scam. There are hundreds of legitimate online survey panels (survey communities run by market research companies), but as with anything, not all are run professionally.
At a minimum, ensure that any site you join features a privacy policy, terms of use agreement, and contact page. Industry memberships such as to the Insights Association, ESOMAR, and the BBB are encouraging. For a real sense of how a survey panel treats its members, always investigate their ratings and reviews on the SurveyPolice top rated survey sites pages prior to joining.
View the world’s top rated survey sites
Sources:
https://www.insightsassociation.org/
