Scarborough Survey of Cell Phone-Only Users Adds More Youth, Diversity to Data Samples

By adding data from surveys of cell phone-only users to its market studies, Scarborough Research is identifying greater numbers of young and minority people for their demographic profiles, the company says.

Scarborough released the data findings from its first phase of cell phone-only, or CPO, survey data collection.

Among the findings: 

•    CPO respondents are much younger than landline respondents, with 50% between the ages of 18-34 -- more than three times the percentage of 18-34 year olds reached via landline. 
•     CPO respondents are also more likely to be people off color or from ethnic minorities. Scarborough said the incidences of African-Americans, Hispanics and Asians among CPO respondents was 20% to 50% higher than among landline users.


“CPO consumers  are increasingly important to our media and agency clients. They rely on Scarborough to be innovative in our survey  approach and appropriately capture the evolution of the American consumer,”  
Gregg Lindner, Scarborough Research’s executive vice president, said in a statement.

“CPO respondents are a sizable and growing part of the U.S. population, and tend to be disproportionately young and  minority,” added Dan Mallett, the firm’s chief statistical officer. “Rigorous survey research must include CPO  respondents to properly represent the U.S. and local market populations.”  

Scarborough said it employs an address-based sample frame to identify cell phone-only populations. This CPO sample  is combined with the company’s landline telephone sample frame to collect data for its syndicated Top-Tier Local Market  service.     

By the fall of 2011 all 77 Top-Tier markets will get local market studies that include CPO data, Scarborough said. For more information on the schedule of the market studies rollout, click here.