ISO 20252 is the international standard for market research and it has six optional annexes to attest to.
The first of those annexes covers Sampling including Access Panels. However, the nature of market research companies and the supporting technology has changed, even since this standard was published in 2019, meaning that Annex A can be confusing. Here we look at whether Annex A is right for you.
A History of Annex A and ISO 26362.
If you have looked at Annex A of ISO 20252 you have probably noticed how long it is! It is almost a standard in its own right, and it often repeats requirements from the core framework, earlier in the standard.
This is probably because Annex A for Access Panels and Sampling did used to be a stand-alone standard, before being rolled into ISO 20252 in the 2019 edition.
ISO 26362:2009, Access panels in market, opinion and social research — Vocabulary and service requirements, had many of the same requirements as the modern Annex A. This standard has now been withdrawn in favour of ISO 20252:2019 Annex A.
This brought the benefits of keeping everything in a single standard and process, but also the challenge of defining an appropriate scope where not all parts of Annex A apply to your company.
We Don’t Have an Access Panel, is Annex A suitable for our company?
As we’ve come to implement the ISO 20252 standard many times, an issue that commonly occurs is where a company recruits or builds samples but does not operate or manage an Access Panel.
The growth of online market places has made it much easier to invite a diverse range of participants and build samples to the required specification, without operating a panel. Often samples are selected afresh for each project, even if it is a similar project or for the same client.
Recruitment of participants has become much easier with these online tools.
Can I Exclude Annex A5 of ISO 20252?
If you don’t operate or manage an access panel, then yes you can justifiably exclude section A5 from Annex A.
It’s important to reflect this on the required Statement of Applicability (SOA) and keep it under review, at least annually, to ensure that it remains appropriate.
By excluding A5, this annex becomes significantly shorter and focused on the Sampling process only.
Implementing ISO 20252
If you need to implement ISO 20252 and achieve certification, we can help!
Our consultants have a broad experience helping market research companies define the correct scope across all six Annexes, and comply with the requirements of the standard.
We have worked across many territories including the UK, US and Australia.
We will also support you through the impartial certification process with an ISO 20252 Certification Body.
