Identification of the Panel

While the device dataset that emerges from the Data Inputs and Cleansing is clean - meaning that it has been de-duplicated and bad data have been removed, not all the devices that remain provide valuable data.

The following steps establish a well-understood panel of devices specifically curated to provide the most valuable data and minimize bias. It is important to note that the use of the term “panel,” is not exactly like a panel used in a longitudinal survey. Instead, it mimics the same methodology and shares its benefits— but with the scale of big data.

Choosing the Panel

Motionworks maintains a panel of mobile devices from which all data products and solutions are built. These are the most valuable devices providing consistent, frequent, and reliable location data over the course of a week. Devices in the Motionworks panel have stable enough patterns of activity to establish home neighborhoods (U.S. Census block groups), reasonable travel and activity patterns, and they are geographically balanced.

Size of the Panel

The data provided to Motionworks’ by third-party partners fluctuates in size and quality. As a result, the members of the Motionworks Panel are adjusted weekly to handle these fluctuations and to continue to provide stable and accurate data products for our customers. On average, the number of devices included in the panel represents 3.5% of the population. The most updated panel information can be accessed here.

Geo-Demographic Cohorts

Motionworks strives to minimize sample bias by balancing the panel across geo-demographic cohorts:

Geographic Sampling

The panel is balanced geographically regionally and by neighborhood. A block group is the smallest unit in the United States for which the U.S. Census Bureau reports a full range of demographic statistics. There are around 400 households per block group.

Demographic Sampling

The panel is balanced against the characteristics of the total population across a number of household and individual characteristics focusing on age, income, and household composition. Claritas PopFacts datasets provide updated demographics and household characteristics annually to ensure that the panel makeup is representative of the current population.