Our research team has won a TINLAB project for the methodological study of online survey research in Hungary. Within the framework of the project, we analyzed both the market and scientific aspects of the current Hungarian data collection opportunities: our results show that, contrary to global and regional trends, the Hungarian data collection market has lost significant size and quality has deteriorated drastically: the estimated market size of USD 107 million in 2017 has shrunk to USD 63 million by 2021, and we have the second least developed industry according to the official IMDP (Insight Market Development Index) metric. Social research is increasingly reliant on survey data, but unreliable data sources are appearing in large numbers in academic publications and the online press. While nearly two thirds of surveys in Hungary can be considered as online surveys, our complex simulation program also shows that such surveys only produce reliable estimates for the whole population in a quarter of cases.

We presented our findings at the methodological workshop "Survey Climate and Trust in Scientific Surveys - Recent Developments and Controversial Issues" in Germany (our presentation) and at the 2022 Annual Meeting of the Hungarian Sociological Association in Miskolc (our presentation in Hungarian).

The results of the research will soon be published as journal articles in English and Hungarian.