Dr. Frances Barlas is a Senior Vice President and the lead KnowledgePanel Methodologist for Ipsos. She has worked in the survey and market research industries for 20 years. In her current role, she is charged with overseeing and advancing the statistical integrity and operational efficiency of KnowledgePanel, the largest probability-based panel in the US, and other Ipsos research assets. Her research interests focus on survey measurement and online survey data quality. She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from Temple University. 

In 2020, we saw a broader awakening to the continued systemic racism throughout all aspects of our society and heard renewed calls for racial justice. For the survey and market research industries, this has renewed questions about how well our industry does to ensure that our public opinion research captures the full set of diverse voices that make up the United States. These questions were reinforced in the wake of the 2020 election with the scrutiny faced by the polling industry and the role that voters of color played in the election. In this talk, we’ll consider how well online samples represent people of color in the United States. Results from studies that use both KnowledgePanel – a probability-based online panel – and non-probability online samples will be shared. We’ll discuss some strategies for ways to improve our sample quality.