--- title: "3 Benefits of Anonymity: Why Online Sharing is Good for Research" description: Privacy is a key driver of participants wanting to remain anonymous in online research. While many view this as a barrier, we choose to use it to our advantage. image: https://blog.flexmr.net/hubfs/3%20Benefits%20of%20Anonymity%20-%20Why%20Online%20Sharing%20Is%20Good%20for%20Research.png --- close ## Ready to level up your insights? Get ready to streamline, scale and supercharge your research. Fill out this form to request a demo of the InsightHub platform and discover the difference insights empowerment can make. A member of our team will reach out within two working days. close ## Cost effective insights that scale Quality insight doesn't need to cost the earth. Our flexible approach helps you make the most of research budgets and build an agile solution that works for you. Fill out this form to request a call back from our team to explore our pricing options. 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[Read more](https://blog.flexmr.net/workshops-beacons-customer-salience) 9 MIN READ #### Ed Hill - [Events (1)](https://blog.flexmr.net/topic/events) - [Insights Empowerment (38)](https://blog.flexmr.net/topic/insights-empowerment) - [Practical Application (178)](https://blog.flexmr.net/topic/practical-application) - [Research Methods (285)](https://blog.flexmr.net/topic/research-methods) - [Strategic Thinking (232)](https://blog.flexmr.net/topic/strategic-thinking) - [Survey Templates (7)](https://blog.flexmr.net/topic/survey-templates) - [Tech & Trends (397)](https://blog.flexmr.net/topic/tech-trends) We as market researchers go to great lengths to protect the anonymity of our participants and follow careful guidelines because we know it's something that consumer's value. Yet when we consider whether to conduct our qualitative research online or face to face we often prefer as researchers to strip that anonymity away to see the whites of the participant's eyes. But there are many important benefits of gathering qual insight in an online environment: ### 1. Openness Everyone is equal; depriving participants of being able to observe each other strips away a lot of information that we use to form pre-conceptions, to establish social status, and to fit people into stereotypes. Everyone interacts on a more even footing and it's much easier to capture a balanced range of opinions. ### 2. Efficiency What you see in an online environment is people moving much more quickly to sharing their opinions, there is much less need to warm them up as they are empowered to share what they think without being judged. ### 3. Honesty Consumers are more relaxed in the comfort of their homes, filling time on a holiday, making the most of their lunch break - participants choose to take part where ever is convenient making them more relaxed -giving easy access to their true feelings. ### The Drawbacks **We can be more polarised** Something important to be aware of in online research - a symptom of the open, relaxed, equal environment is the veracity of some of the comments you witness - whether they are heavily critical or heavily positive, you will more than often see opinion in online qual dragged to the extremes rather than the (boring, un-illuminating!) centre. **We are less engaged** So we are online and no one's watching so there is nothing to stop us just checking Facebook, emails, and Twitter whilst we are taking part right? Well, wrong - in a live chat environment the moderator will have you continuously engaged and in a diary for example you are engaged with the task at hand, pick that tools and the right questions and you will see highly motivated and interested participants, even topics that might appear 'dry' to a customer at first look can be brought to life with the right approach e.g. by facilitating peer to peer interaction. **We dispense with social niceties** Twitter has become famous for trolling and insults and in an entirely unregulated environment things can get very nasty, but online research is a very structured and shepherded affair that allows for freely shared opinion that is on topic. So, I would say if they don't like (or love!) your service, they sure will tell you in an online environment as you reduce the desire to please that you see in a face to face setting. But they will do it in a constructive way as they have branding and environmental cues to guide them. A skilled moderator can achieve great depth, bang on topic. Of course taking advantage successfully of this anonymous environment can be helped or hindered by the tool that you are using to engage your participants - pick the right tool and you can exercise the right level of control, shepherding, engagement and fun to make anonymity your biggest advantage. *For more information, you can read the [MRS Guidelines](https://www.mrs.org.uk/pdf/2012-02-16%20Online%20Research%20Guidelines.pdf) for online research. To book a free trial of the FlexMR research platform and make use of our wide range of quant & qual tools, click [here](https://resources.flexmr.net/free-demo). Or, click [here](https://www.flexmr.net/services.aspx) to read more about our services, and the flexible service levels we can provide.* #### About FlexMR We are The Insights Empowerment Company. We help research, product and marketing teams drive informed decisions with efficient, scalable & impactful insight. #### About Maria Twigge As Research Director, Maria has spent 10+ years guiding FlexMR service development and building strategic client partnerships. #### Stay up to date ## You might also like... ![Blog Featured Image Header](https://blog.flexmr.net/hubfs/Marketing_Files/Blogs/Headers/retaining_human_touch_customer_salience_cx_ai.png) ### [Retaining a Human Touch with Custom...](https://blog.flexmr.net/customer-salience-cx-ai) In recent years, companies have embraced artificial intelligence (AI) at pace, swept up in a technological momentum that promises efficiency and cost savings. However, in their rush to pursue quickly ... 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Whilst the increased prevalence of generative AI has provided a range of benefits to market research process... 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