As a part of our quality strategy we were proud to obtain ISO 26362 certification at the beginning of the year for our access panel of French internet surfers.

Repères is the first market research company in France to obtain this certification which guarantees compliance with the best practises for the management of an access panel as defined by the profession.

This is a part of our Web strategy:

Since 2006, we have greatly invested in the Web with the aim of renewing research protocols by using new technologies.

This has led us to develop our own platforms such as the one used for the Home Use Blog or to explore new territories such as Second Life, in which we have set up an access panel of more than 10 000 avatars from all over the world.

All this research and experimentation has enabled us to acquire in-depth expertise in the field of online research and the creation and management of Internet panels.

Last year, we created a Web Development department, with three people under the management of Christophe Desgouttes, and dedicated to:

• The designing of new on-line qualitative and quantitative protocols,
• The production of online studies (with panels or through interviews conducted by interviewers equipped with EeePc and 3G connections),
• The creation and management of online Panels.

We have thus been able to recruit French Internet surfers for our own access panel and have gradually started to insource our online studies (our international online studies are still conducted with partners, namely SSI).

This strategic choice of insourcing enables us to offer our clients more competitive prices, while guaranteeing the quality of the information gathered.

The Repères panel is composed of 27 000 people today, with an objective of 50 000 people within the next year.

The development of new technologies has deeply modified the way information is gathered, namely via online access panels.

Nevertheless, for a certain number of surveys, face-to-face exchanges with an interviewer remain the optimal solution:

- when the target interviewed is not well represented by an online access panel,

- when it is necessary to show real survey materials (mock-ups or products to be tested that cannot be sent by mail),

- or when the questionnaire is too long for an online survey.

That is why at Repères face-to-face interviewing in the field still represents a high proportion of our activity and is a strategic area for us. The quality and reliability of our field work (ISO certified) is an indispensable pre-requisite which enables us to guarantee a high quality service for our clients.

Within the framework of our constant search to optimise our processes we have just taken a major step by equipping with Eee PCs and 3G connections our field researchers conducting face-to-face interviews. We are now able to conduct CAWI (Computer Assisted Web Interviews) all over France face-to-face at home or in facilities with the direct transfer of data onto our web server.

Such equipment presents many advantages:

. we follow field work in real-time and ensure quotas are complied with since they can more easily be redistributed between interviewers as they work,

. we are able to give our clients precise and reliable field research data,

. compared with classic laptops used in CAPI, the small size of the Eee PC is an undeniable advantage in practical terms for interviewers,

. lastly, compared with the studies we have conducted until now with paper questionnaires our deadlines and costs for field research have been considerably optimised.

The development of new technologies has deeply modified the way information is gathered, namely via online access panels.

Nevertheless, for a certain number of surveys, face-to-face exchanges with an interviewer remain the optimal solution:

- when the target interviewed is not well represented by an online access panel,

- when it is necessary to show real survey materials (mock-ups or products to be tested that cannot be sent by mail),

- or when the questionnaire is too long for an online survey.

That is why at Repères face-to-face interviewing in the field still represents a high proportion of our activity and is a strategic area for us. The quality and reliability of our field work (ISO certified) is an indispensable pre-requisite which enables us to guarantee a high quality service for our clients.

Within the framework of our constant search to optimise our processes we have just taken a major step by equipping with Eee PCs and 3G connections our field researchers conducting face-to-face interviews. We are now able to conduct CAWI (Computer Assisted Web Interviews) all over France face-to-face at home or in facilities with the direct transfer of data onto our web server.

Such equipment presents many advantages:

. we follow field work in real-time and ensure quotas are complied with since they can more easily be redistributed between interviewers as they work,

. we are able to give our clients precise and reliable field research data,

. compared with classic laptops used in CAPI, the small size of the Eee PC is an undeniable advantage in practical terms for interviewers,

. lastly, compared with the studies we have conducted until now with paper questionnaires our deadlines and costs for field research have been considerably optimised.<-->