Industry veteran examines two decades of change in respondent quality as researchers prepare for the next phase of AI-driven research
NEW ORLEANS, July 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Rep Data, the data quality leader for the market research industry, today announced the publication of “From Access to Trust: What Twenty Years of Online Sample Teaches Us About Trustworthy Research,” a new eBook by Kurt Knapton, Rep Data Board Member and a key pioneer of the online sample industry. The publication examines how the industry’s approach to respondent quality has changed over the past two decades and what those changes mean as artificial intelligence becomes a larger part of the research process.
Knapton helped shape the modern online sample industry. As former CEO of e-Rewards and Research Now, he played a central role in the transition from telephone interviewing to web-based research and helped commercialize permission-based online panels at global scale. Today, as a member of Rep Data’s board of directors, he continues to focus on respondent quality and trusted data.
“When you step back and look at the last twenty years, you can see that every major change in online sample introduced new questions about quality,” said Kurt Knapton, Rep Data Board Member and former CEO of e-Rewards and Research Now. “The tools have changed, the technology has changed and now AI is changing the conversation again. The constant has been the need for researchers to understand who their respondents are and why they can trust the data.”
The eBook traces the major developments that reshaped the industry, from proprietary panels and marketplaces to fraud prevention, respondent validation and artificial intelligence. Drawing on Knapton’s experience leading many of those changes, it explains how quality standards expanded beyond panel recruitment to include behavioral signals, device intelligence, cross-network validation and AI-assisted quality assessment. It also examines why trusted human data has become more valuable as AI-generated content becomes more common in research.
“Rep Data was built around the idea that better research starts with better data,” said Steven Snell, PhD, EVP and Head of Research at Rep Data. “Kurt’s experience captures how the industry’s understanding of quality has evolved over the past two decades. This eBook reflects many of the principles that continue to shape how we think about respondent quality today.”
Download “From Access to Trust” here: https://hubs.ly/Q04qLzpb0
Knapton will discuss the themes from the publication during a fireside conversation with Snell at The Quirk’s Event New York industry conference on July 29. Their session will examine how respondent quality has changed alongside advances in respondent sourcing, validation technologies and artificial intelligence.
About Rep Data
Rep Data is on a mission to help organizations make confident decisions through trustworthy research. By combining purpose-built technology with expert services across research design, expert survey programming, quality data collection, advanced fraud prevention, and analysis into one seamless workflow, Rep Data connects the workflow from end to end. The result is faster execution, higher-quality data, and more reliable insights. Trusted by more than 750 organizations, including market research agencies, management consultancies, Fortune 500 corporations, advertising agencies, brand strategy consultancies, universities, communications agencies, public relations firms and more rely on Rep Data to power research they can trust.
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SOURCE Rep Data