Editor’s note: David Haynes is CEO of Western Wats, an Orem, Utah research firm.

I believe that the Internet access panel space is what economists call a lemon market. Lemon markets are unhealthy and require collective action to improve their vitality. By adopting independent quality certification, the market research industry can address many of the common frustrations in the Internet data collection space.

Academician George Akerlof earned the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences by explaining lemon markets in his paper, “The Market for Lemons: Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism.” Akerlof wrote that lemon markets tend to develop when a number of conditions are met:

Today, all of these conditions are met in the Internet access panel space. This is a cause for concern because lemon markets disadvantage buyers by driving high-quality providers out of the market and incentivizing current providers to offer lower-quality products.

Recently, I was discussing the Internet panel space with a prominent buyer of survey research services. She was having a difficult time sorting through the various claims of competing firms. “They all promise quality,” she declared, “but the only element I can objectively measure is price. It’s hard to pay a premium for quality when you are not sure you will get it.” I have heard other vexed researchers echo her frustrations.

Because buyers have a difficult time determining the quality of the goods ex ante, they are compelled to guess - and the best estimate given limited information is average. Therefore, the buyer will pay no more than the average market price. The average market price hurts high-quality providers because they are denied a rightful price premium. The average market price helps low-quality providers because they receive unfairly rich margins. This dynamic drives high-quality providers out of the market or toward lower-quality offerings. How...