 "IRS 2013 data found valid")
Following this, MRUC and RSCI had agreed to carry out a revalidation of the results and requested the subscribers not to use the research findings for commercial purposes until the process was over.
The revalidation committee, which included two co-chairs representing publishers and advertising agencies, studied the methodology of the survey. The audit process was handled by Praveen Tripathi-led Magic 9 Media, which was appointed by the said committee. The audit report was then studied and deliberated upon by MRUC chairman, RSCI chairman, Audit Bureau of Circulation chairman and the president of Indian Newspaper Society (INS). The process audit consisted two stages. In the first stage, direct back checking of the respondent homes was carried out. Following this, a forensic statistical analysis was done to identify and isolate fieldwork compliance deficiencies and incidences of occurrences of unusual publication incidence among the respondents. The audit revealed that the outcome of IRS 2013 had not been impacted due to the methodology, and the data findings have been found valid. As a result, the voluntary abeyance imposed on the findings of IRS 2013 has been lifted from August 20.
The subscribers have also been advised not to analyse data where the sample size is less than 30, since in statistics such a sample does not give stable results when extrapolated. This means niche publications (including financial dailies) may not be able to use the IRS 2013 data for some territories.
MRUC and RSCI have communicated the findings of the process audit to the subscribers, and informed that the publications have accepted the result.