Articles

Utilization and application of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in research are expanding and already supporting exciting improvements in the speed, scale, depth, and predictability of insights the industry can deliver to end users. However, the impact AI can have on research raises familiar, new, and evolving considerations for practitioners. Key mandatories to ensure research integrity and quality when using AI tools are outlined in the Insights Association Code of Standards and Ethics.

Interest in and use of synthetic data has evolved significantly over the past two years. Synthetic respondents, simulated personas, and AI-generated datasets are now common in conference discussions, product development, and professional dialogue. This shift makes it timely to revisit how synthetic data and synthetic participants intersect with the Insights Association Code of Standards and Ethics. The intent is not to slow innovation or endorse it uncritically, but to ensure that adoption is de...

Ensuring a positive participant experience not only supports better response rates, but promotes the accuracy and engagement that produce reliable insights. The Duty of Care principles in Section 1 of the Insights Association Code of Standards & Ethics (Transparency, Respect, Fairness, and Honesty) are a practical roadmap for obtaining better data and maintaining the public trust on which our profession depends. Below, we examine where each principle might be violated, connect it to the Code, an...

The profession is setting its own standards through self-regulation, and the way to protect that autonomy is to use the Code proactively, early and often, as a competitive feature rather than compliance overhead.

Survey fraud, defined as a systematic act of intentional deception in order to gain a benefit during the conduct of survey research, has moved from being an occasional nuisance to an existential challenge for the market research industry. The Insights Association Code of Standards and Ethics provides a clear mandate: researchers must ensure transparency, methodological clarity, and data integrity. Nowhere is that more relevant than in how we prevent and disclose acts of fraud.

February may be a shorter month on the calendar, but there was no shortage of advocacy work for the insights industry with new Trump Administration leadership, federal privacy legislation, more taxes in New Jersey and Washington state, disappearing census data, a new legislative threat to the ACS, AI regulation in Virginia and New York, federal reporting requirements for small businesses, and more.

Market research is not a promotional activity or a sales opportunity. While research and marketing intersect at times, they are different disciplines, have different underlying purposes, and raise different ethical and legal concerns. Thus, market research and marketing are subject to different regulations. While research and marketing are mutually beneficial, companies and organizations should maintain separate research and marketing functions for both to be successful.

"Sugging" is a term used by survey researchers to describe the unethical practice of selling under the guise of research.