Rep Data Expands Research Defender with Real-Time Adaptive Source Control

New capability in Research Defender's Second Shield technology connects quality signals from across the research process to identify and stop problematic sample sources while studies are in field

NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Rep Data, the data quality leader for the market research industry, has expanded its Research Defender fraud prevention technology with real-time adaptive source control as part of Defender's Second Shield. The new capability moves beyond evaluating respondents individually to identify quality problems across the sample sources supplying them and automatically stop problematic sources while research is still in field.

Research Defender's Second Shield uses multiple identity, device and behavioral signals to assign each entrant a risk score that helps determine whether they should be allowed into a study. It now combines those scores with downstream research outcomes to identify patterns associated with a sample source. When those patterns indicate that a source is delivering poor-quality traffic, Research Defender can automatically shut it off for the affected project.

"Fraud prevention across our industry has largely centered on determining whether you've got a good respondent," said Vignesh Krishnan, co-founder and EVP of product at Rep Data. "We can now zoom out and ask whether the source supplying those respondents is right for that specific project. That gives us another level of protection that simply isn't possible when you're looking at each respondent in isolation."

Research Defender's real-time adaptive source control brings together quality information from Rep Data's panel sourcing system and its proprietary pre-survey, in-survey and post-survey data quality technologies. Second Shield analyzes up to 101 signals across five areas:

• Open-end quality, including relevance, response length and indicators of AI-generated or pasted text
• Device fingerprint and activity, including device characteristics and patterns across previous sessions
• Supplier track record, including recent volume and historical rejection patterns
• Project context, including survey length, project activity and how an individual complete compares with the project overall
• Respondent behavior, including actual completion time, response timing, engagement and activity

Second Shield uses four AI specialists designed for different research and supply situations. Using a continuous test-and-control methodology, Rep Data compares initial respondent assessments with quality issues identified during and after survey participation, feeding those results back into Second Shield so it continues learning from research outcomes.

The capability is applied to sample sourced through Rep Data's Research Desk global supply network and research services team. It also demonstrates the value of Rep Data's connected research engine, where quality information from across a study can be used to improve sourcing decisions during fieldwork.

About Rep Data
Rep Data helps 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. More than 750 organizations, including market research agencies, management consultancies, Fortune 500 corporations, advertising agencies, brand strategy consultancies, universities, communications agencies and public relations firms, rely on Rep Data to power research they can trust. www.repdata.com

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SOURCE Rep Data