A new study contends that research methodology for advertiser surveys is flawed, reports ClickZ.

According to the Online Research Quality Council, the scrambling for research data has created a cottage industry that produces questionable results. Unreliable - and unreproducible - data in these studies are leading to confusion at agencies and companies.

The ORQC is taking aim at, among other things, the use of cash incentives for survey participation, which leads to people taking multiple surveys and giving answers that are intentionally beneficial to the sponsor of the survey.

Overall the group feels that vast amounts of studies being produced devalues legitimate research. It plans on developing guidelines for online surveys that will lead to clearer and more scientifically sound data.