Critical review required

[Brown and Boris]

As if there is anything else on PH!!!


I have an idea for a new arm of my small business which I am, rather trustingly, opening up for review by the collective PH business community as your broad perspective always brings new perspetives and identifies problems;

Half of my business is developing psychometric tests for the big psycholgical consultancies/companies and the other half is using those tests in assessments on behalf of clients. I do much of the psychometric work for them. A major part of that process is getting people to take pilot tests to try them out and the problem is getting more difficult as the legal requirements to pilot tests with diverse groups, especially in the public sector, increases. I usually have to commit loads of time in contacting groups/institutions likely to be able to help me access specific sample and drive the country cajoling and encouraging them to do what they agreed to do in good time. These groups often have other 'political' or social agendas and often want to pass it through 23 committees before agreeing to help each time so if I can bypass them that would be great.

I have several projects I am self funding and foresee a couple of new ones where I can see the potential to sell the capacity to pilot new tests.

So here is my idea.

I was going to set up a web based register of people willing to complete online trials, receive mail based pilot tests or attend regional centres for face-to-face testing. I have already done this on a small scale using local charity groups to recruit people and was going to extend this offer to larger charities likely to have people who want to help them in the groups I needed to access. In the past I have also used individuals and paid them, directly in hard cash or vouchers with the agreement of HMRC. By creating a database I could then sell specific trial sample to other test developers and probably cream off some of the analaysis work as many lack the statistical skills required and the experience of handling large and complex data sets.

I know the likes of TNS have databases of people willing to complete consumer surveys for marketing research and that they can create sample by a range of demographics, and that prices vary depending upon need and on how tought the group are to reach (e.g. doctors cost lots more than the general public. I looked at these companies but the leads are often not fully qualified (they charge whether the person agrees to take part or not).

I was going to create a database where people register personal details (usual demographic stuff, and some info about their driving experience because driver assessment is growing) and the types of testing the would participate in and at what price. It would have an emailing system allowing me to email the database of people who matched the sample I needed and get their one click sign up to do the testing within the agreed time scales and at the price offered. They would then do the testing and decide if they wanted the money to go to the charity they choose from the site list or receive the money themselves via a cheque or vouchers minus a small admin charge for cutting the cheque or delivering the vouchers under signature.

The issues I have come up against to date are:

Data protection: I have a registration which seems to cover it but wondred of this idea required special arrangements?

What about the tax/PAYE implications of payments. Will HMRC regard these people as employees for the £150 a yera they may earn?

Would people be likely to do it for payment to their chosen charity ( I intended to talk to a range of charities with the hope of them making the approach to existing supporters which has worked well in the past) or take the more troubleseome'self-cash' option which is more work for us.

How to get agreement from key charities (will they trust me to hand over the cash?)and will I need written agreements with them?

How likely are people do do as they say they will? I can oversample to be sure of getting the right numbers buit would havwe to build that into the pricing.


The idea was muted some years ago at a professional level. The stumbling block was one aspect of this idea which is the real power in the process: once I have their data on test X, Z, A, B, C developers often want to know how new test Y perorms alongisde Test X,Z, A, B etc. I can charge a premium for these people as I will have their data on tests Z, A, B etc which would normally require very expensive testing using pairs of tests. The problem was nobody wanted to share the data for fear a competitor would know thei new test was flawed. I think that by standing as an experienced and qualified independent I can get around that problem. Alos in terms of motivating people this would mean that people who have completed previous tests have a greater value to the client as we already have their test data from test X, Z, A, B etc so they get better and more offers the more tests they take. I would probably be looking at a core databse of 500 people who get used often and another 1000 who get used once in a while because they are a less sought after group.

Advice appreciated.

[V8mate]

Wouldn't it be better to target companies/organisations in specific fields which complement the tests? Ask if they would be willing to email their employees with details of the web location of the tests; a respondent could then select the receiving charity from a choice of, say, four, as their first question. No cash to the respondents.

That way, you can get an 'animal' one, a mental illness one, a physical illness one etc.

I also think you'd get better quality of responses. If, for example, you put a link to a psychometric test on an internet forum, you have a high probability of getting people respond to it in such a way as to try and create an extreme outcome.

If the prompt for the test comes via an employer, who simultaneously sells the charity concept, I believe you are likely to get more realistic responses.

The approach I suggest means that if you want public-sector mentality responses (I don't mean that rudely!) you can gather them specifically and at various heirarchical employment levels. If you want professionals in finance/banking etc etc. Allows muc more targetted responses and allows you to manage the data easily over a period of time.

[Brown and Boris]

V8mate said:

Wouldn't it be better to target companies/organisations in specific fields which complement the tests? Ask if they would be willing to email their employees with details of the web location of the tests; a respondent could then select the receiving charity from a choice of, say, four, as their first question. No cash to the respondents.

That way, you can get an 'animal' one, a mental illness one, a physical illness one etc.

I also think you'd get better quality of responses. If, for example, you put a link to a psychometric test on an internet forum, you have a high probability of getting people respond to it in such a way as to try and create an extreme outcome.

If the prompt for the test comes via an employer, who simultaneously sells the charity concept, I believe you are likely to get more realistic responses.

The approach I suggest means that if you want public-sector mentality responses (I don't mean that rudely!) you can gather them specifically and at various heirarchical employment levels. If you want professionals in finance/banking etc etc. Allows muc more targetted responses and allows you to manage the data easily over a period of time.

Charities are my preferred route but i hadn't thought about using clients employees as a source, that sounds useful.