Average prices quoted by full service agencies for the 20 Week Tracking Study show that across all methods, the cost of research has fallen since 2014, and for face-to-face and online research costs are cheaper in 2016 than in 2010. 

While the fall could be caused by the fluctuating dollar value, Esomar said not all the falls in price recorded could be attributed to currency exchange rates. It said more countries with lower prices had participated and there was a drop in fees for simple, global research projects.

The lowest prices tended to come from Eastern and Southern Europe and online research was cheaper than CATI, with both cheaper than face to face.

The study was carried out by Esomar in collaboration with Ray Poynter and is based on seven ‘dummy’ projects provided by 629 full service agencies across 123 countries.