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Quality in GfK Group CR as part of Corporate Image

Our quality concept is based on clear value orientation

GfK Group consists of dozens of companies based in all key world regions. These companies are different in their size and specialization, but what they have in common are corporate values: they all are consistently customer-oriented, realize the key role of people working with and for them, are highly innovative, able to implement global knowledge in the specific circumstances of local markets, and, last but not least, show an omnipresent effort to be long-term profitable.

GfK - Same Quality Everywhere

The closer and closer integration of European markets and the growing internationalisation of the economic space globally is a challenge for market research. The response of GfK to the growing internationalisation of the  economic internalisation worldwide is the Same Quality Everywhere principle,  which embraces the parameters of quality as such, its control and also the full comparability of the results of research.

The ultimate measure in GfK Group was to set up the GfK Ad Hoc Worldwide coordination centre in Brussels. Its aim was to concentrate on the problems of market research in the mirror of European economic integration with the stress placed on the issues related to the EU, but from start focused on the potential EU members in the CEE countries as well.  GfK Czech has been long-term co-operating with GfK Ad Hoc Worldwide and their employees are active members of expert teams, including that for international quality standards. The next measure was to set up an international expert team for International Quality Standards with the purpose to codify the GfK exact international standards as the fundamental battery of processes, procedures and guidelines effective for research projects co-ordinators and sub-contractors.

GfK Czech - quality care history

The strong point of our quality concept is the deep knowledge of the business of our clients, which enables us to come up with customized research solutions tailored according to their needs and supporting their effective marketing.

Since its founding GfK Czech has made it a point to ensure that their research activities followed all qualitative and ethical guidelines contained in ESOMAR codes, including respondent personal data protection. After the founding of SIMAR, GfK Czech was actually one of its founders, the same applies to SIMAR standards and external controls performed by SIMAR on its members. The exacting scrutiny of our own control system practically in all standards significantly extended the level agreed upon within the SIMAR association.

In the past GfK Czech finished the quality control programme by the criteria of Malcolm Baldrige (The Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence) published by the American Association for Quality in Milwaukee, the U.S., and its assessment.

In 2007 GfK Czech reached the ISO standards (International Standards Organisation) again and obtained the quality certificate. The audit, on the basis of which the company obtained its ISO certificate 9001:2000 was performed in November 2007 by the certification company Mag Consulting, s.r.o. Consistent maintaining the quality system within company since 2000 gives the customer a guarantee that the entire research process will be of quality. 

GfK Czech - systematic quality control in Ad Hoc and panel surveys

For more demanding Ad Hoc surveys GfK uses the exclusively licensed, sophisticated, international brand tools. Most of the brand tools are the outcome of many years of GfK investments in developing new methods, but they also include some verified research instruments from other sources.

The brand tools bring well-tested and verified solutions with clear answers to marketing questions, standardization and a possibility of international use, including rich experience from applications in a number of countries, extensive databases of results for direct comparisons and benchmarking. These firm guidelines on methodology represent qualitative guarantees sui generis. GfK Czech moreover uses also their own brand tools developed for the specific demand of the domestic market.

The core of quality care in GfK Czech is the care of primary data collection and its quality enter and processing.

A pre-condition for consistency and validity of the data collected is the quality sample selection.
It is standard practice for GfK Czech to use a number of recruiting/sampling methods according to the character of research survey and requirements of the client.

The method most often used is random address, better to say a multi-degree, stratified address random selection. It is one of the most exacting sampling methods and it is used, e.g., for GfK omnibus surveys and large research projects such as MEDIA PROJEKT, etc. The use of random address sampling in MEDIA PROJEKT, which since 1994 has been the authorized, national multi-media survey and from its start always conducted with at least one other partner, is an example how the procedures and rules of GfK are extended, in case of cooperation with GfK, to co-operating partners or sub-contractors. The methodology of processing has been examined by several audits ensured by the Sociological Institute and an independent, foreign auditor.

The primary data collection and control in the multi-degree, stratified random address sampling is accompanied by the external and internal control system. In the sample universe larger than 150 respondents, a third of randomly picked interviews conducted is a minimum checked in the population by the demonstrable, written form. When having certain suspicion of a particular interviewer, his/her work would be strictly 100% checked on. To clarify certain specific problems, the respondent is contacted by telephone. The client can anytime get the "Field report" containing the course of the primary data collection and the results of control. The purpose of using the warning and sanction system is not only to check how the specific assignment was performed, but also to continuously educate and improve the GfK Czech field force as such. This starts with the induction training, regularly innovated interviewers manual and regular communication with interviewers for the reason of data collection techniques development and the results of continuous checks and control. The results of checks and control are individually documented for every and each interviewer, including correspondence with him/her and also documented by each research project, which gives an opportunity to assess the quality of their execution.

Also the control of telephone surveys - interviews conducted in our CATI studio is accompanied by the system of training, control of interviewers listening to the interview in progress, and back checking the recorded answers.

All input data from questionnaires are entered in PC twice, independent of one another, by two different operators. During the data processing the data is logically checked, e.g., its logical sequence between the questions asked.

Also qualitative research is subject to several types of control and checking. The control of recruitment for qualitative research projects is going on at several levels - external control (screening questionnaire is filled in by a trained recruiting person), internal control (by face-to-face interview and further control of screening ensured by an employee of the internal field part of the qualitative research section) and control by the group discussion moderator.

Panel surveys (Non-Food Tracking, Consumer Tracking)

In consumer and non-food panels the working procedures have been internationally coordinated and harmonized for many years.  In consumer panels - Consumer Tracking it is at the level of the CEE region, in non-food panels Non-Food Tracking) - at the pan-European and global level.

The high quality standard is the ultimate pre-condition for long-term success of GfK panel surveys - consumer as well as non-food tracking. Their key feature is the continual course, when each working step is repeated in regular intervals. In GfK the consistent standardization of these steps based on the process analysis is a must, when the results of each working step is documented.

The structure of panels is based on regularly up-to-dated information about the entire population (base sample). In GfK non-food tracking this information is collected via retail census, while in consumer tracking it comes out of the official Statistical Office - ČSU data (results of the census on the population, houses and flats), completed by extensive, representative surveys carried out in GfK (GfK Census, GfK omnibus, MEDIA PROJEKT, etc.). Meeting the sampling quotas is checked in each wave of primary data processing.

To gather the primary data we prefer its electronic collection, as it minimizes the risk of  mistakes made in the data (errors, not ticking the box) and makes the identification of each item (product) tracked more precise. This way we gather more than 80 % of all primary data in non-food tracking.

Where the data collection is still manual, we organize regular checks on the job done by auditors both on the spot, i.e., at shops, and back checking the inventory lists filled in. All GfK auditors are external employees with expertise in the product range and market, and they have been long-term co-operating with GfK. All shopping diaries filled in by the members of our consumer panel are checked as well.

All data comes through a battery of standard controls checking if logically possible, and correct in time series; extreme values are removed.

At present, the worldwide Non-Food Tracking division has introduced an international information system called STAR TRACK (System To Analyse and Report on TRACKing data), which completely solves the entire area of non-food data processing, maintaining and links between products and database and also producing own reports. STAR TRACK enables to shorten the whole production cycle and improves the data quality control.