One term you don't often hear associated with the Internet is stability. Things are settling down a bit now as it becomes clear again that profits DO matter and that millions in venture capital do not a viable business make. But in its brief but eventful life, the Internet has come to symbolize upheaval and transience.

Even the stodgy old research industry has undergone a bit of an Internet-led makeover, though we're finding out that while slow-and-steady may not always win the race, at least it's unlikely to explode in a fireball half a mile from the finish line.

The research equivalent of old-economy companies are now welcoming back clients who have realized that it's probably not a good idea to do research all by yourself just because you can and that there is more to a research firm than just the ability to post an online survey. Turns out those long-standing research companies may have been exhibiting prudence - not blinkered stubbornness - when they urged a cautious approach to the new medium. True, they certainly rushed their own online capabilities to market (can't be left behind!) but they had a research foundation - rather than just venture capital - to build upon.

"We have seen a lot of clients get burned," says Donna Wydra, vice president and managing director of Market Facts Interactive, a division of Market Facts, an Arlington Heights, Ill.-based research stalwart. "The online environment has allowed a lot of research companies who aren't really researchers to get up and running and people who have used those companies have come back to us and said 'We got bad data. We want to do it right this time.'

"It's not enough to just throw up a Web site and have some technology behind you. You need to have research knowledge and a skill set and you need to have a viable sample source. It requires more of an investment than was originally thought and those who could not make that investment have fallen out."

Online research is cheaper, but it's not a fraction of the cost of traditional offline research, Wydra says. "The mantra two years ago was, 'It's cheap and it's fast.' We are moving beyond that. I think people are understanding that you get what you pay for."

Two varieties

At this juncture, online research refers to two kinds of research: research conducted on the Internet and research conducted about it. "One category is still tactical, looking at the online environment as a data collection method," Wydra says. "Beyond concept testing, you can conduct A&U studies, segmentation work, conjoint analysis - a lot of the more strategic work that people were afraid to do online. Now that the sample source has been pretty much validated, people are branching out and doing other kinds of work."

Web site research is now all the rage as companies try to determine just what, if anything, their sites are doing for them, Wydra says. "Is it functioning properly? Can people find what they want? For companies that aren't just online firms, it's a matter of finding out how their Web presence interacts with their offline activities and really trying to understand how the Web site fits in. They are realizing it isn't a separate marketing strategy. It needs to be integrated into everything else they do."

Keep them happy

Wydra, who is also a member of the Interactive Marketing Research Organization, is confident that the industry is taking steps to keep online research respondents happy and avoid alienating them. "I think we're trying, and our clients are onboard with us on this, to make sure the respondent understands that we appreciate them, that we guarantee their privacy. We have to keep things very short, keep surveys as interesting as possible and don't over-survey."

The other good news on the consumer front is that in general, people seem to be growing more at ease with releasing their personal information into cyberspace. A Market Facts Interactive study found that 56.9 percent of respondents are "comfortable" or "somewhat comfortable" providing credit card information over the Internet, versus 43.5 percent by telephone. The numbers for disclosing other personal data (health, family history and income) are comparable, with 40.1 of respondents "comfortable" or "somewhat comfortable" divulging such information online, versus 32.7 percent for telephone.

The most feared outcome of providing personal information online is identity theft but in reality, spam is probably a more realistic, if less damaging, threat. Seventy-five percent of survey respondents said they are still concerned about receiving spam and 74.5 percent are still concerned about their info being shared in an unauthorized manner.

As a result, they are very vigilant in protecting themselves and their information. In the survey, nearly 70 percent said they at least sometimes look at a Web site's privacy statement. And 60 percent said a privacy statement makes them feel more confident that their personal information won't be shared in ways they don't want it to be. "With everyone supposedly short on time these days you wouldn't expect that people would spend time reading privacy statements but they are," Wydra says. "So it's important for companies to understand the impact of the privacy statement and to make sure their site is secure and that it has a tag that says it's secure. These are very important to getting people to do e-commerce at those sites."

Long-term relationship

While the Internet still strikes fear into some hearts, for the most part, consumers have settled into a long-term relationship with it. "Eighty-one percent agree that the benefits outweigh the drawbacks," Wydra says. "There is no doubt that the Internet is a tool that people are embracing, one that saves them time and that there are benefits to using. Despite the fact that the hype has come down a bit, people are still pretty favorable about it."

Â