Understanding the incidence rate or predicted incidence rate of a potential survey is important as it impacts feasibility, fielding time, and cost.

What is Incidence Rate?

Incidence Rate is a measure of the rate of occurrence — the percentage of persons eligible to participate in a study.

For example, in a study of American vehicle owners, the Estimated IR would be the percentage of Americans who own a vehicle out of all Americans (owners and non-owners combined).

The formula: total number of qualified respondents divided by the total number of respondents screened (qualified plus non-qualified).

Estimated Incidence Rate

From the Target Market page, click the Please select an IR dropdown to select an Estimated Incidence Rate. This dropdown is also available on the Survey Editor page. An Estimated Incidence Rate must be selected before you can launch your survey. Actual IR will be determined after fielding begins.

Premium Profiling vs. Prequalification Questions

aytm's Premium Profiling offers extensive non-demographic sample targeting, narrowing your audience to a more relevant subset of panelists and increasing the effective IR of your survey.

If any Premium Profiling qualifications are selected, respondents who start your survey will be profiled to match those criteria. We recommend adding your own Prequalification question pertaining to the profiling criteria, or additional Prequals as needed. You'll need to estimate your own IR, since the system can't predict IR for your additional screening questions.

Generally, the more screening questions added, the lower the overall IR becomes. Remember: IR is the percentage of people who qualify for your survey after answering all screening questions.

1. On the Target Market page, click into the 2300+ Premium Profiling field to search or scroll through available options.
2. On the Survey Editor page, click Add a Prequal to narrow your screening criteria as needed.

Read more about Premium Profiling.

Need Help Estimating IR?

Setting an accurate estimated IR helps determine feasibility, fielding time, and how respondents from the panel are invited to participate. If you're unsure, try these approaches:

• Internal company data — leverage previous market research, client data, or colleagues' knowledge to inform your estimate.
• Online research — for well-researched topics, a quick search may surface relevant statistics. Paid databases of market stats can also help. Verify your sources are reliable.
• Run an IR test survey — use your exact screening questions as regular survey questions, launch to the general population (100–200 respondents is typically sufficient), then filter results to determine what percentage would qualify. Contact our Customer Engagement team for help launching an IR test survey.

aytm's Predictive Sample Complexity Meter

The Sample Complexity Meter helps determine feasibility, turnaround time, and cost in real time. It's visible at the top left of the Target Market page. As you set targeting criteria and add screening questions, the meter updates automatically. Hovering over the N, LOI, and IR labels shows definitions for each — all of which contribute to survey cost.

Viewing Incidence Rate Post-Survey

Once a survey is complete, the Incidence Rate can be found in your dashboard.

1. Click the Completed tab dropdown in your aytm dashboard.
2. Select the gear icon to the right of the desired survey. A summary of key metrics for the completed survey will appear at the top of the dropdown.
3. Look for the IR label — this is the Incidence Rate of your survey.

The following metrics are displayed:

• % Fulfilled
• Responses
• Progress
• Survey ID
• IR

If you have questions about determining your survey's incidence rate, reach out to support@aytm.com or click Chat with us at the top of the page.