With fog enveloping London, representatives from around the world gathered at the Market Research Society (MRS) offices for a meeting of the ISO Technical Committee 225 (TC 225), which has responsibility for the market, opinion and social ISO research standards.
With fog enveloping London, representatives from around the world gathered at the Market Research Society (MRS) offices for a meeting of the ISO Technical Committee 225 (TC 225), which has responsibility for the market, opinion and social ISO research standards.
Two days of discussions focused on the suite of research standards and how the ISO standards can best serve the research market.
The global research community has been a strong supporter of ISO service standards, and the research standards have gained traction in an increasing number of markets around the world, reflecting clients’ needs for consistent research quality across all markets. Currently there are two ISO research standards:
- ISO 20252: 2012: Market, opinion and social research – vocabulary and service requirements
- ISO 26362: 2009: Access panels in market, opinion and social research – vocabulary and service requirements
In addition, a new draft standard, ISO/DIS 19731, in development focuses on digital analytics and web analyses in market, opinion and social research (MOSR).
The creation of the specialist standards for access panels, and more recently digital analytics, has been helpful in developing specific process requirements for newer and/or more specialist research areas. However, as these research techniques move into the mainstream (as with access panels) and are used in conjunction with established research techniques, the need to ensure that the umbrella standard – ISO 20252: 2012 – comprehensively covers these requirements becomes more pressing. It was against this backdrop that TC 255 discussed its future plans for the research standards.
Brilliant sunshine replaced the London fog, and representatives from Asia, Europe and the Americas started to get a clearer picture of what was needed. After two days of careful discussions, a consensus had been reached. The decisions included:
A revision of ISO 20252: 2012 will be initiated with the aim of updating its content, including integrating and updating the content of ISO 26362: 2009.
- The combined document will be one standard document – ISO 20252 – and the structure would be revised to improve navigability with clearly defined, separate areas, to support adherence to the relevant areas.
- In the longer term, ISO/DIS 19731 may be included within ISO 20252, depending upon the extent to which digital analytics/web analyses becomes a part of mainstream MOSR. For the foreseeable future, however, this standard will remain separate to enable research suppliers to allow users and providers to become familiar with its content and, where applicable, integrate the service requirements into their processes.
The ISO process for updating will take some time, and those research service suppliers working towards certification to either ISO 20252 or ISO 26362 should keep going! All the current requirements will be in the new combined standard, plus new additions that reflect the changes in research practices since the standards were finalised in 2012 and 2009. By ensuring that the current obligations are being met, research service providers will be much better prepared to adapt their systems to the new requirements once the revised ISO 20252 standard comes on stream, which will be 2018 at the very earliest.