Since some months Target launched the second wave of its online research. An occasion for the Market Agency to increase numbers of people that participate into its market researches fully conducted online. Blaise PEZO, IT specialist within Target, explains in this interview the ongoing process of this second wave of online research as well as challenges that have been successfully faced for better carrying out the said researches. 

Since when did you launch this research and what are the subjects thereof? 

Target panel is riding its second wave of research focusing on three topics: digital communication of companies, education as well as democracy and good governance. It has been launched since beginning of Avril and ended around mid – August 2016. Taking about 4 months of campaign. This one took longer compared to the first wave, due to issues related to internet connection, especially rise of internet cost, internet connection slowness of our country and untimely signal losses, etc…     

How many panel users did participate into this research?

First of all, the campaign we’ve just concluded had two stages in its courses. The first stage focused on extending the panel. From here, number of panel users was taken from 1475 to 1900, i.e. 425 news users joined our platform. The second stage especially focused on the research. We reached a total of 500 answers, i.e. 52% of responses’ rate.  To compare with the first research wave, this shows an increase of 4% based on 960.       

What is the reason of this fact and how did carry out panel users’ recruitment?

We have to know that it is not the entire Congolese people that has the culture of using internet. We also face all problems related to internet connection in the country, adding to that increase of internet cost experienced during the research period. However, we conducted different campaigns through social networks, sending of emails, vocal calls, and text messages as well as getting on the field for encouraging internet users to register in the panel and participate into available survey.

Another means of panel users’ recruitment was sponsorship. This was about pushing former panel users to recommend their closes, friends or relatives to register into the panel with a small rewards to be granted based on 6 new registrations successfully made.

The other issued faced in the beginning of this wave was the fact that some panel users that participated into the first wave, thought that responding to twenty questions granted them a right to a reward, while it was only about winning 20 points. After clarification provided to them, they understood. Since that the survey is over now, we are going to emphasize this clearly within participation conditions for anyone.         

In several parts of the Republic, some people are facing difficulties to get connected to internet due to connections’ slowness. What Target is practically doing to bypass this pitfall?  

Indeed, slowness and no access to internet connection have highly limited the survey in some cities of DR Congo such Kinshasa, Matadi in Kongo – Central; Kisangani in TSHOPO; Mbuji – Mayi in Kasai Oriental; Lubumbashi in Haut Katanga; Goma in Nord – Kivu and BUKAVU in Sud – Kivu. To compensate for this issue, some panel users only responded during break time to take advantage of internet connection of good quality, some are getting connected in the morning others in cybercafés.   

What is the public – target that the results expected from this new research wave will interest in priority?  

The research on digital communication is destined to companies, advertisers and communication agencies to help them optimize their online communication. There is almost no research covering this field in DR Congo. While research on education, democracy and good governance aims at decision – makers, partners of education and development. The results could help them redirect their actions and awareness campaigns so that the population can go for it.

How the public did welcome these first researches achieved by Target with via its panel?     

Results of three publications coming from researches conducted on the panel have been generally appreciated. Some Telecom operators purchased publication on internet users’ behaviors and a local brewery rather used this new technic to collect data for conducting an internal survey.    

When the results of this second Panel wave are to be resealed?

The totality of results for this second panel wave is supposed to be released around end of September 2016, in the meanwhile, we will be publishing by Monday, September 7^th, some extracts of results on education as well as democracy and good governance in our social networks accounts and pages (Target panel RDC Facebook and Twitter).