There has been much debate in the market research world around "Accces Panels". It is the view of Lake Market Research and Local Opinion Surveys that open access panels , whilst being highly competative, are not best market research practice for obtaining quality research. It is however acceptable that, in terms of ease of availability and cost, that many clients will choose to use Access Panels to obtain the market research that they need.

At Lake Market Research, however, we aim to resolve this issue by providing clients with online surveys knowing that the recruitment of the panel member has been to the highest possible market research standards. We are proud of the fact that we can verify all panel members as they have been througha careful vetting process to ensure that the research undertaken provides the highest quality data.

Panel members are interviewed by telephone or face to face and are invited to join the panel, thereby ensuring that there is no panel bias towards "professional survey panelists". Whilst other market research companies may assert that their recruitment process provides responsive, reliable and representative panels, the very fact that recruitment is "open access" means a form of bias must exist.

On joining Local Opinion, panel members complete a comprehensive "demographics profile survey" which allows us to identify respondents that will be appropriate for targeted surveys.