1. Introduction to Ipsos MORI Online Communities
Steven Ginnis

2. 1. Introduction

3. What is an ‘online community’?
Each online community is its very own dynamic, interactive ‘space’: the ‘home’ of a panel of research participants. Bespoke communities of all sizes can be set up for specific projects using our partner CMNTY. Communities can be open, private, or both.
Look, feel and functionality of the website tailored to each project.
Members have their own profile, and are invited to take part in regular activities.
‘Pay as you play’ contract, which is flexible and very cost-effective.
Activities can be filtered to selected target groups of respondents, or based on members’ responses to a previous activity.
Designed specifically for participation ‘on the go’, renders to mobile and tablet devices through wifi and 3G.
All content is moderated by the core research team.
Panel management modules included to track participation & synthesise findings over multiple activities.
Survey responses and qualitative activity easily exported, either by activity or by user.

4. Four community environments
Each environment is tailored to suit individual projects:
Should the community be open, private, or both?
A one-off event, or reoccurring?
Open forum
Open engagement via a weblink and invite
Open for a prolonged period
Closed forum
Invitation only – via invite
Open for a short one-off period
Members’ Base
Invitation only – via invite
Open at intervals throughout the life of the panel
Members’ Community
Invitation only – via invite
Permanently open (for a fixed period or until further notice)

5. Keeping members engaged
Notifications ed and ‘flash up’ just like a social networking site
Community blog provides easy access to information on how to take part
Side-menu keeps members up to date with the latest activity
Members receive acknowledgement for posts, comments, likes.
These can be turned in to ‘badges’ of engagement.
Ongoing activity includes: i) regular communications; ii) review of panel health; iii) recruiting new members

6. Online surveys through the community
Online surveys take just one day to set up, and one day to turn around data.
They can be targeted to any subgroup. Demographics are stored centrally and are not needed in the questionnaire.
Include standard single, multi code, matrix, slider and open ended questions; and routing.
They offer structured feedback through open-ended questions, and an opportunity for people to have their say privately outside of a community discussion.
They also offer an opportunity to track attitudes over time, and collect extra demographic information about the participant that can be used as context throughout the project
Day
From the point of agreeing the scope and questions, the survey is ready to launch in just one day.
Members receive an notification and a invitation link to take part in a new survey. The survey is also advertised on the Community website.
Members complete the short 5-10 survey. Where appropriate, members can then be invited to then join discussions based on their responses.
The project team regularly review progress. Reminder invites are sent to members yet to take part.
Results are exported from the Community; demographics added; weighting applied where appropriate
Excel topline data returned to FSB within a day of closing. 1 1
2-8 9 10

7. ‘Challenge’ – co creation
Community activities offer a range of activities: ‘light touch’ and ‘interactive’
Relatively narrow topic, open ended initial question
Runs over a number of days, users can reply with text/image/video and comment on each other
Light touch moderation
Discussion boards
Light touch
Members are taken step-by-step through a series of open-ended questions.
Contributions from others can be ‘masked’ until a user has made a comment.
Stepboards
A one-off session, run for c60 minutes. Suggest an additional incentive.
Targeted at a specific group, recruited from demographics or previous responses
Broad topic, with multiple probes in live moderation.
‘Challenge’ – co creation
Interactive
Members are set a specific collective task and asked to contribute ideas.
Users comment on and rate each others’ ideas.
More detailed moderation to move discussion on.
Live discussions

8. 2. Activities and Screen shots

9. Online surveys

10. Journals

11. Discussion forums

12. Modular discussion forums - Stepboards

13. Co-creation ‘challenges’

14. Live discussions

15. Community blogs to share information

16. 3. Case studies

17. Case study 1 – attitudes to science
What did we achieve?
Insight in to the way people perceive science today, and how they receive and share news about science.
The results have been used to inform Government on the way in which science should be communicated, and to aid the design of the Public Attitudes to Science survey.
What did we do?
A mixed method approach across three waves of activity, including:
2 ‘qualitative’ surveys (incorporating a high number of open ended questions)
2 online discussion boards
4 online discussion groups
Respondent blogs on a specific research task (sharing news on science with a friend)

18. Case study 2 – attitudes to immigration
What did we achieve?
Support IPPR in testing two different ways to frame discussion of immigration: ‘benefits should outweigh the costs’ vs ‘system is not fair’
The results were used to help inform Labour’s immigration policy, identifying a new way to think and talk about immigration policy.
What did we do?
Split sample survey, which included a number of ‘prioritisation’ and open ended questions.
670 completes, response rate of 34%.
Analysis of over 1,000 verbatim comments to explore the language used by respondents when explaining their attitudes / beliefs.

19. Case study 3 – attitudes to health / NHS
What did we achieve?
Tested reaction to a number of public health initiatives / interventions.
Identified factors driving perceptions of improvement and deterioration in the NHS today.
The results were used to inform senior policy makers of public health and the NHS.
What did we do?
6 minute online survey, 480 completes.
Two 90 minute online discussion groups with 20 members, selected based on responses to the initial survey.

20. Case study 4 – Updating the risk rating system for food businesses
What did we achieve?
Tested emerging findings from earlier stages of the research
Sourced informed suggestions for improvements to the current risk rating system
Allowed sharing of best practice across the food regulation sector
The results were used to inform strategy on the regulation of food safety
What did we do?
Two week online discussion
Eight topic threads
29 local authority representatives, 2 industry professionals and one international regulator

21. Case study 5 – Tracking reactions to the election campaign for the BBC
What did we achieve?
Provided frequent data to the BBC pre, during, and immediately following, the election campaign. Tracking attitudes towards parties, issues, and understanding key events
Results helped to inform the BBC’s news programming during the campaign, and featured on the Today programme, 5Live, BBC News, and BBC Online
What did we do?
Community of c.1,950 UK adults.
1,000 members a week completing surveys, allowing tracking throughout the campaign
A wide range of qualitative activities including forums, stepboards and live chats, to gain in-depth views of how the leaders/ parties were seen on key issues such as the NHS
10,000 forum posts
15 “journalists” to keep an election journal, completing specific tasks each week

22. Case study 6 – Testing the new NHS 111 digital service
What did we achieve?
Brought participants from 8 discussion groups around the country back together
Built on findings of earlier work to test out ideas for new NHS 111 online service, and test out NHS 111 responses to findings.
Results used to inform ongoing development of service.
What did we do?
Online survey with 30 respondents
Follow-up stepboard activity to build on findings
Live online focus group to further unpick emerging themes.