Online research is now a widely-accepted and extensively-used survey methodology. One of the challenges faced by the research community is how to keep respondents engaged with online surveys. Engagement is essential for maintaining healthy response rates and for ensuring that survey participation is a positive experience.

One way of achieving this is through the use of digital interactive media, or "rich media". Rich media applications based on JavaScript and HTML5 can be incorporated into online surveys, making them more visually attractive, more interactive and ultimately producing a more engaging experience for respondents. Rich Media tools create a more dynamic survey experience and provide the opportunity for researchers to be more innovative with how they collect data which in turn enhances the value of the research they are conducting.

In the past, adding more complex programming to surveys was cost- and time-intensive. Research Now's innovative approach to using rich media tools has been to "production-ise" some of these tools so that they can be "taken off the shelf" to enhance an online survey.

Working within the standard parameters, up to 40% of your survey (up to a maximum of 20 questions) can be rich media enabled. The library gives your surveys an immediate boost to impress both your clients and respondents alike.

In addition to the rich media tools offered in our library, rich media can also be used to visually enhance basic questions.

• It brings surveys alive to enhance the respondent experience
• It improves respondent comprehension of your questions to encourage more considered responses
• It improves completion rates by structuring questions in a more intuitive way
• It improves data quality with built-in validation checks

• The standardised library provides you with access to consistent application programming and output with no additional costs or time required!
• The tools include built-in validation for clean, error-free data collection
• The tools have been built with output in mind, making data easy to analyse and incorporate into your reports
• The tools are available for multiple-language surveys across all of Research Now's proprietary panels in EMEA, The Americas and Asia-Pacific

Rich Media are new technologies used by survey programmers to make surveys more interactive. Rich Media applications are developed in various programming languages including JavaScript, HTML 5 and other new technologies. To date, the components we have built for the Research Now Rich Media Library have been built in either JavaScript or HTML5.

Introductions
Your Research Now contact can demonstrate our Rich Media Library online for an overview of which tools are available and what potential research application these tools may have.

Getting started
Our reference factsheets will walk you through the main features of each application and which parameters do and do not fall within the standard library framework. We are also on-hand to help and advise as you start to design your survey.

Implementation
We will confirm with you what the standardised applications are compared to the more advanced functionality and we will advise on both library and customised survey timelines and costs. Once you have decided which tools to use, we will send you a test link so that you can see the application live before fieldwork starts.

The standard library is only a snapshot of the full range of rich media capabilities that Research Now offers. The library has been designed for quick and easy integration of some core rich media applications into some of your more standard surveys, but we love a challenge and have the in-house facilities to build custom made solutions to meet particular requirements.

We are more than happy to talk through or demonstrate some of our more advanced applications should you require a more customised approach.

For more information or advice on any aspect of Rich Media Library, please contact:

• UK - Varun Sharma (vsharma@researchnow.com)
• USA - Richard Lattanville (rlattanville@researchnow.com)