There once was a time when a market research company paid survey was typically only filled out in person. Compensation was almost nonexistent, and the demographic surveyed was normally much larger. It's not hard to see why the idea of taking surveys online has grown much more appealing to the masses.

Many years ago, when most people thought of filling out a survey, they typically imagined the original pen and paper method. There was no pre-requisite; a company would hand out a market research company paid survey to as many people as possible. Then the person took the survey, which was usually only on one page, filled it out, and turned it back in. Traditionally, people were not paid for this, but instead entered into a sweepstakes which put them on a mailing list.

On the internet, things work quite a bit differently. To start, marketing is typically a lot more highly targeted on the internet. Companies do not accept everyone to take their market research company paid survey. In fact, there is almost always a pre-requisite survey to see if you qualify for the main survey. As an example, Tampax is not going to pay men to take a survey about feminine products. It just wouldn't make sense.

Many companies have moved their market research efforts online in an attempt to go paperless and help the environment. As an incentive to get people to participate in market research, they usually offer a small reward, such as points towards items, gift certificates, or even a minute cash offering.

So you can see that things are quite a bit different from taking surveys online and filling them out in person. While the odds of acceptance for filling out surveys in person are much greater than filling them out online, the odds of getting any type of compensation are much less. That is why filling out surveys online is a much more profitable business.