Free pre-launch analysis & consultation
We checked 5,000 projects. 90% had critical issues. Catch these before you commit to buying responses.
Catch costly issues before launch.
Protect your study from unreliable responses.
Know your sample, timeline and price.
Get a feasible plan based on fair participant pay.
Get expert advice, without the commitment.
A free analysis and a call to talk it through.
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Thank you. Our researchers will review your project and contact you about your free analysis and consultation.
Supporting research teams
with real decisions at stake
Flo Health
The bad news
A good survey can still give you bad data. You made sure the questions are correct. But how do you know whether the responses are trustworthy?
Panel providers cannot catch everything. People lie about who they are to receive study rewards. Organised click farms and AI bots infiltrate surveys and distort the results.
Some respondents say “yes” to almost everything just to qualify and get paid. Your product or service can look more popular than it really is. See Pew’s research on positive-answer bias.
Real cases
Three published cases show why data quality deserves attention before your study goes live.
Criminal case
In the Op4G and Slice case, participants were paid to pose as legitimate survey takers. The Justice Department reported guilty pleas and more than $10 million billed for work tainted with fabricated data.
Check the sample yourself, whatever the provider promises.
U.S. Department of Justice · 2026
Read the publicationPublished research
Researchers buying a sample of current or former U.S. Army members found that more than 81% appeared to misrepresent their credentials. Similar problems appeared across several of the firm’s sub-vendors.
For a niche audience, verify eligibility yourself.
Bell & Gift · Journal of Experimental Political Science · 2023
Read the publicationReplication warning
An opt-in poll’s Holocaust-denial finding among U.S. adults under 30 did not replicate in Pew’s probability-based panel. Pew said the difference was consistent with bogus respondents, not proof of fraud in each response.
A striking result often just reflects who answered.
Pew Research Center · 2024
Read the publicationThese are separate cases with different methods, and their figures describe those studies only. Plenty of good panels exist. The point is that every panel carries some degree of fraud, so it pays to know how to protect yourself from it.
See how it happens
A survey fraudster describes a virtual device farm and repeated survey-taking in an interview presented by InnovateMR and OpinionRoute at ESOMAR Congress 2022.
The Insights Association also documented how organised click farms pose as genuine respondents in its Inside the Click Farm webinar.
The good news
A few well-chosen checks can help you screen out dishonest participants and spot click-farm or AI-bot activity. No single check catches everything, but a layered approach gives you much more control.
But are you doing that? You know your research. Finding the right respondents and managing fieldwork is an expertise of its own. That is where we help.
A clear plan, before you spend
We review your survey and data collection plan before you commit to fieldwork.
Get practical screening methods and tools to help detect dishonest participants, click farms and AI bots.
Find out whether your sample is reachable, how long collection could take, and what fair participant pay looks like.
Learn which checks to ask for and how to assess what a panel provider actually delivers.
If you choose not to work with us, no problem. Leave with a clearer understanding of your study and the confidence to make your own decision.
The people behind the projects
Research planning
Hired us to analyse their study and build a research plan.
Global employer branding
Hired us for data collection and quality assurance on their global employer branding studies.
Specialist audiences
Hired us to find women with specific ailments to help improve their app.
AI model research
Hired us to help improve the accuracy of their AI models for detecting skin cancer.
Academic research
Hired us to collect census-representative samples across multiple countries for academic research.
“SurveySwap is a real life saver! Our project with P&G would have went down the drain if it wasn’t for the expertise and guidance of the SurveySwap team.”
A good fit?
One of our experienced researchers will review your study, sample and data collection plan, then discuss the next steps with you.
Free analysis. Free consultation. No obligation to buy.
If you hire us for your study, we stand behind our work. If you are not happy, you get your money back.
