Updated Survey of 2,800 Users Of Internet Shows Rapid Growth
April 26, 2011
NEW YORK -- An updated version of a disputed Internet survey found new evidence of rapid growth. The most recent survey, conducted by Dun & Bradstreet Corp.'s Nielsen Media Research unit in March and April, interviewed 2,800 of the same people in the U.S. and Canada who had been asked about their Internet use a year ago. It found that 15% to 17% of people 16 years and older said they had used the Internet in the previous six months, compared with 9% to 11% in the previous survey. Respondents who said they had access to the Internet tallied at 22% to 24% in the new study, compared with 14% to 16% in the prior study. Lykins Waltz, executive director of a Palo Alto, Calif., consortium called CommerceNet that sponsored both studies, said they indicate that a huge market is emerging for commerce on the World Wide Web. The original study estimated the number of Internet users at 24 million, a number that some researchers rejected because of objections to some methodology used. Paulene Homer, a Nielsen vice president, said, however, it isn't statistically valid to derive a number of users from the new survey because it is based on a subset of the original sample group. Donnette L. Silva, a Vanderbilt University researcher who challenged the original study, praised Nielsen for refinements in its methods. But she said the results still seem higher than some other studies of Internet use.
