Use these templates to describe a Verasight sample in your methods section or institutional review board (IRB) application. They are based on Verasight's methodology statement. Fill in the bracketed fields, such as field dates and number of respondents, from your own records.
Do not describe a Targeted Demographics or Convenience sample as representative.
#Disclosure items
The American Association for Public Opinion Research Transparency Initiative lists these disclosure items. It also asks for your full questionnaire wording, which comes from your own survey.
For a self-serve sample, report each item as follows:
| Item | What to report | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| Data collection strategy and mode | A self-administered online survey hosted in your survey platform, with respondents from the Verasight panel. | Connect your survey with redirect links |
| Sponsor and who conducted the survey | Your funder or sponsor, that you designed and hosted the survey, and that Verasight provided the sample through Verasight Self-Serve. | Your own records |
| Population | The population of your sample type, for example US adults or US registered voters. For Targeted Demographics, also list the traits you selected. | Choose a sample type |
| How the sample was recruited | The panel's recruitment channels, that panelists are invited by email, and that the panel combines probability-based and non-probability recruitment. | How respondents are recruited and verified |
| Incentives | That panelists earn reward points they can redeem for Venmo or PayPal payments, gift cards, or charitable donations. | Panelist rewards |
| Field dates | The date your survey opened and the date it closed. | Your own records and your survey platform's response timestamps |
| Sample size | The number of completed responses in your data file, including any beyond the number you ordered. Count them after you match your survey responses to the file by vsid. | More rows than you ordered |
| Precision | Whether you report a margin of sampling error, and how you computed it. | Probability status and precision |
| Weighting | For weighted surveys, the method (raking), the weighting variables, and the benchmark sources. Otherwise, state that the data are not weighted. | Survey weights |
| Data quality steps | Our attention check before the survey, and your own attention check if you used one. Also report that respondents who failed either were excluded and not counted, and any other exclusions you made. | Data quality sentence |
| Limitations | Verasight's methodology statement says: "Unmeasured error in this or any other survey may exist." | Recruitment paragraph |
| Use of artificial intelligence | Whether AI was used to collect or process the data. If you programmed your survey with Doc2Survey, Verasight describes it as an AI programming tool. | Doc2Survey |
#Probability status and precision
The Verasight panel recruits through both probability-based methods (random address-based sampling and random person-to-person text messaging) and non-probability methods (dynamic online targeting). The disclosure items ask you to state whether your sample is probability, non-probability, or combined from several kinds of frames.
Your data file does not include a response rate or a margin of error. Verasight's methodology statements report a margin of sampling error that "accounts for the design effect and is calculated using the classical random sampling formula." If you report one, say how you computed it.
#Methods section text
Copy the paragraph for your sample type, then add the recruitment paragraph after it. Replace each bracketed field. Where a paragraph offers two bracketed weighting options, keep the one that fits your sample size. For [n], report every row in your data file, including any extra responses.
#Nationally Representative
Verasight provided the sample for this study through Verasight Self-Serve, using its Nationally Representative sample type. The survey was designed by [author or research team] and hosted in [survey tool], and data were collected from [start date] to [end date]. The sample consists of [n] United States adults. [For orders of 250 or more respondents:] The data are weighted to match the Current Population Survey on age, race/ethnicity, income, education, region, and metropolitan status, as well as to a running three-year average of partisanship distributions from the Pew Research Center NPORS benchmarking surveys and population benchmarks of 2024 vote, using an iterative raking method. [For orders under 250 respondents:] The data are not weighted.
#Validated Voters
Verasight provided the sample for this study through Verasight Self-Serve, using its Validated Voters sample type. The survey was designed by [author or research team] and hosted in [survey tool], and data were collected from [start date] to [end date]. The sample consists of [n] registered voters matched to L2 voter file records. [For orders of 250 or more respondents:] The data are weighted to registered-voter benchmarks. [For orders under 250 respondents:] The data are not weighted.
#Targeted Demographics
Verasight provided the sample for this study through Verasight Self-Serve, using its Targeted Demographics sample type. Respondents were selected by [the traits and categories you selected]. The survey was designed by [author or research team] and hosted in [survey tool], and data were collected from [start date] to [end date]. The sample consists of [n] United States adults. The data are not weighted, and the sample is not representative of US adults.
#Convenience
Verasight provided the sample for this study through Verasight Self-Serve, using its Convenience sample type, which Verasight offers for pre-testing or experimentation that does not require a representative sample. The survey was designed by [author or research team] and hosted in [survey tool], and data were collected from [start date] to [end date]. The sample consists of [n] United States adults. The data are not weighted.
#Recruitment paragraph (all sample types)
All respondents were recruited via email from the Verasight Community, which is composed of individuals recruited via random address-based sampling, random person-to-person text messaging, and dynamic online targeting. All Verasight Community members are verified via multi-step authentication, including providing an SMS response from a mobile phone registered with a major U.S. carrier (e.g., no VOIP or internet phones). Those who exhibit low-quality response behaviors over time, such as straight-lining or speeding, are also removed and prohibited from further participation in the community. Verasight Community members receive points for taking surveys that can be redeemed for Venmo or PayPal payments, gift cards, or charitable donations. Respondents are never routed from one survey to another. Unmeasured error in this or any other survey may exist.
#Data quality sentence (any sample type)
Add this text after your methods text, and describe your own exclusions:
Before reaching the survey, all respondents answered an attention check administered by Verasight. Respondents who failed it were not sent to the survey, are not in the data Verasight delivered, and are not counted in the sample size. [If your survey had its own attention check:] Respondents who failed [your attention check, an item from Verasight's pre-approved list] were sent to Verasight's Fail Attention Check redirect and are not in the delivered data or the sample size. [Describe any additional exclusions you made and how many respondents they removed.]
#IRB application text
Use these paragraphs where your IRB application asks about participants, recruitment, data, consent and compensation, and replace each bracketed field. If your IRB needs more, email research@verasight.io. We have materials for IRB applications, including Verasight's methodology statement and our standard recruitment description, and will do our best to help.
#Participants and recruitment
Participants will be [United States adults / registered voters matched to L2 voter file records / United States adults selected by (traits)] who are members of the Verasight Community, Verasight's panel. Verasight recruits Community members via random address-based sampling, random person-to-person text messaging, and dynamic online targeting, and verifies each member via multi-step authentication, including an SMS response from a mobile phone registered with a major U.S. carrier (no VOIP or internet phones). Verasight will invite Community members to this survey by email. Participation in individual surveys, as well as membership in the Verasight Community, is completely optional, and Community members may opt out of participation at any time with no penalty. Before reaching the survey, each participant answers an attention check administered by Verasight, and participants who fail it are not sent to the survey. Participants will complete the survey in [survey tool], which the research team hosts, and will return to Verasight through a redirect link at the end of the survey.
#Data the research team receives
Verasight will provide the research team with a file containing one row per completed respondent: an identifier (vsid) used to match the file to the survey responses, the core profile variables and, for orders with weights, a survey weight. The file does not contain names, email addresses, phone numbers, ZIP code, county or state. Survey responses are recorded in [survey tool]. The redirect link at the end of the survey returns each participant's vsid and which ending they reached (completed, declined consent, or failed an attention check) to Verasight. [Describe what your survey tool records, for example whether IP address and location collection are turned off.]
The Profile variables codebook lists every profile variable. Our privacy policy is at verasight.io/privacy.
Qualtrics records IP addresses and approximate location by default, including for responses through the anonymous link. Check your survey platform's settings for IP address and location collection. If your consent form promises anonymous responses, turn that collection off before you launch.
#Consent
Consent will be obtained in [survey tool] [where in the survey]. [If your consent form lets participants actively decline:] Participants who decline will be sent to Verasight's Do Not Consent to Participate redirect link and will leave the survey at that point.
#Incentives
Verasight Community members earn reward points for taking surveys, which can be redeemed for Venmo or PayPal payments, gift cards, prepaid Visa cards, or charitable donations. Compensation for this survey is [points, from Verasight at research@verasight.io]. Respondents are never routed from one survey to another.
#Verasight's methodology statement
To request Verasight's methodology statement for your study, or citation wording for Verasight Self-Serve data, email research@verasight.io.