i-Say Views

June 2006

Our new and improved Ipsos i-Say Panel Web Site has now been launched. As well as improved navigation of the site, we hope that the following new features will make your visits more enjoyable:

Take a Survey – A number of surveys will be available for you to take directly from the website. Some of the survey topics include Health and Wellness, Small Business Owners, and Pet Owners.
PIN Lookup – Need your PIN number? Simply visit our website and make this request. An email response will be sent to you within minutes.
Information Change – Change your contact information directly on our website.
Vacation Notification – Let us know when you are going on vacation and we won't send you surveys until you're back.

Visit www.i-say.com to see the improvements for yourself.

Hi! My name is Emily Martin and I have recently joined the Ipsos family as a Director of Research. I am very excited about this opportunity and look forward to working with the i-Say Panel in particular.

Our team is always looking for ways to improve your experience with the i-Say Panel and I am happy to share with you just a few of the many innovative ideas we are currently working on:

Further improvements to the website including a Member's Login area
Regularly adding new surveys to the Specialty Panels on the Take a Survey Page
You asked for more survey results and that is what we will give you in the next newsletter you receive
You will be sent an annual survey where you can provide feedback about your i-Say experience.

If you have any ideas, please send an email to questions@i-say.com and a member of our capable Member Services Team will collect this information and implement as many of your suggestions as possible.

I thank you for your continued participation with the i-Say Panel.

Sincerely,
Winners
Emily Martin
Director of Research

Winners

Winners

Winners

Winners

One of the most common ways to start a conversation is to comment on the weather. You’ve heard it - "Hot 'nough for ya?," "Beautiful weather lately!” or "Looks like rain...".

Everyone says these things, and we’ve been doing it for centuries. Weather has always been at the top of the list for everyday conversations, especially now with growing concerns over global warming, and the increased number of storms, hurricanes, and tornados we’ve experienced. Not surprisingly then, when we asked you, close to 90% of Americans say that weather information is important in their everyday life. Now, with the huge availability of the internet, more and more people are beginning to rely on online sources for their information.

We thought it would be interesting to look at other information Americans get online everyday. How important are different types of information? Do young men rate sports information more important than women? Do younger panelists value entertainment information more than older respondents?

Online weather information is important to most Americans, but local and national/International news follow close behind (local= 85%, National/International= 82%). As we suspected though, different people place different importance on them. When it comes to the importance of local news, there is no difference between men and women. However, National and International news provided by online sources is much more important to men than women (Very or extremely important – Males 46% vs. Females 39%). Further, among men, those aged 25 to 44 rate National and International news much more important.

Online business and personal finance news is also very important to men. And, it is highest for those aged 25 to 44. Though many Americans see no importance in business and personal finance information, online sources become more important as income increases. Of course, the more money you can invest, the more important (and interesting!) business and personal finance information becomes.

Returning to gender, Health and Medical information was the only topic that women rated higher in importance than men (Very or extremely important – Females 46% vs. Males 34%). In addition to women, those in larger households, and married or partnered respondents also rated Health and Medical information as very important online information.

Who most values sports and entertainment information? Well, our hunches were correct! Let’s look at sports first. Compared to women, men rate sports information as much more important (Extremely or very important - Males 34% vs. Females 12%). And among men, sports information is rated the highest among younger respondents. As for women, a majority(63%) rate sports of no importance at all. Another interesting finding is that the importance of sports information rises along with household income. Now, as for entertainment information in general, men and women rated it equally important. But, younger, higher income and single people were most likely to rate entertainment information as more important.

To close, let’s return to the primary sources of weather information. As seen in the chart, younger panelists are equally likely to cite television and the Web as a primary source for weather information. But, as people get older, they are more likely to choose television (tried and true!), and less likely to choose the Web (“new-fangled”) as a primary source of weather information.

How To Tell if the Information on a Website is Accurate

When surfing for information about a particular topic, you can usually find a lot of different Websites. The problem is, knowing if the information is accurate. Anyone with a little knowledge about the Internet can post a Website, so anyone could put inaccurate information. So how do you tell if the information that you found is credible? There are a few steps to determining the quality of a Website.
Here is what to look for:

Does the author say who he is and offer a way to contact him/her?
If the author doesn't give you a way to contact them or take credit for his work, you should be suspicious.
Does all of information seem accurate?
If somewhere in the information there is an easily spotted inaccuracy, don't trust the balance of the information. For instance, if the part of the information says, " Columbus sailed to the New World in 1762" chances are the rest of the information is not accurate.
Does the author give reference to the source of his information or his background?
A credible site would offer references to where they got their information on the topic. A credible author would also state his background or education on the subject.
Are there an unusual amount of typos and misspellings?
A few typos and misspellings may be acceptable, but if the information is filled with them, you have to question the accuracy of the information. Credible authors take pride in their work.
Does the author give you resources to learn more?
The author should give you places to where you can learn more on the given topic. It may be other Websites or books that you can read to acquire more knowledge. Of course, if the topic has been previously unexplored, then there might not be any other sources of information. Remember a credible author's purpose is to educate you on the subject.
Is it published by a reliable company?
Is the information is published on a well recognized company's Website, it should be credible. Companies such as About.com, Yahoo, and Zdnet have too much at stake, to publish inaccurate information. Information published on Geocities or Xoom, may be accurate also, but you would want to examine the quality a little more closely.
Is there a publishing date?
This is especially important if the information is date sensitive. If there is not a publishing date, you have no idea how old the info is and there may have been recent discoveries about the subject.
Check to see who owns the Website.
Determine who owns the domain (site.com) by finding contact information for a web site when it isn't listed.

With the wealth of information available on the Net that can be published by anyone, you must carefully evaluate the content, before believing the information. Taking a few minutes to exam the information's credibility could save you time and embarrassment of believing wrong information.

From Marcy Zitz, Your Guide to Family Internet
http://familyinternet.about.com/cs/internethelp/a/accuratewebsite.htm

We are happy to tell you that we have now added Vacation Notification to the i-Say Panel website. From the Change of Info page, select Vacation Notification (or to be directly linked click here) and tell us the dates that you will not be available to complete i-Say Surveys.

You may also send an email to questions@i-say.com (subject line: Vacation ) including the dates of your vacation. By doing this you will not miss out on any i-Say surveys or chances to win prizes.

Refer a Friend will be added to the website soon. This will allow you to tell all your friends and family about the i-Say Panel and encourage them to join. Every person who you refer who then joins the panel will give you an extra entry into a sweepstakes drawing.

If you prefer not to receive this newsletter, send us and email to
questions@i-say.com and type the words "no news" in the subject line.