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CloudResearch blog - online research articles and insights
AI and the Future of Survey Fraud
Aaron Moss, PhD

AI and the Future of Survey Fraud

AI agents can now complete surveys, passing 99.8% of attention checks. Part 2 of the data quality crisis explores AI as both threat and tool.

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The Singularity Is Not an Event
Jonathan Robinson, PhD

The Singularity Is Not an Event

The Singularity isn't a single moment — it's a rolling frontier crossing one domain at a time. Chess, Go, protein folding. Survey research is next.

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The Worst-Kept Secret in Market Research
Jonathan Robinson, PhD

The Worst-Kept Secret in Market Research

Panel companies have known about the data quality problem for years — and kept laughing about it. CloudResearch explains why, and what accountability actually looks like.

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The Bots Have Arrived
Jonathan Robinson, PhD

The Bots Have Arrived

CloudResearch detected autonomous AI agents attempting to complete surveys — less than 0.1% of traffic, but a clear signal. Here's what we're seeing and what it means.

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Sunsetting the MTurk Toolkit
Jonathan Robinson, PhD

Sunsetting the MTurk Toolkit

The MTurk Toolkit retires September 30, 2026. Read our original announcement and get updated guidance on moving your research to Connect.

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Bots, Cyborgs, Zombies, and Humans
Jonathan Robinson, PhD

Bots, Cyborgs, Zombies, and Humans

Not every data quality problem in survey research is a bot problem. Learn the four-part taxonomy — Bots, Cyborgs, Zombies, and Humans — and why the distinction matters.

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Coming Soon: Panel Patrol
CloudResearch

Coming Soon: Panel Patrol

CloudResearch is coming to a kids channel near you with Panel Patrol — a new show about defending surveys from bots. (Okay, not really… but data quality matters.)

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When Science and Nature Knock on Your Door
Jonathan Robinson, PhD

When Science and Nature Knock on Your Door

A reflection on the moment when scientific researchers shift from submitting papers and navigating peer review to being recognized as authorities—when leading journals and science journalists come seeking your expertise.

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Trust What You See
Jonathan Robinson, PhD

Trust What You See

Without a ground truth, you're not doing quality control — you're guessing. Learn why Sentry is the only data quality solution with face validity, and why evidence should always win over authority.

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The Machine That Saw Me
Jonathan Robinson, PhD

The Machine That Saw Me

A ChatGPT conversation about figure skating turned into an unexpected mirror, revealing blind spots about how facts alone don't move people.

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Staying Ahead of the Curve: The Existential Threat of AI Agents to Survey Research
CloudResearch

Staying Ahead of the Curve: The Existential Threat of AI Agents to Survey Research

On December 17th, 2025, CloudResearch hosted an MRII webinar in response to a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) reporting that AI agents passed 99.8% of attention checks, examining the implications for survey research and how CloudResearch is staying ahead of this emerging threat with purpose-built data integrity solutions.

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When AI Dreams: Hidden Risks of LLMs
Jonathan Robinson, PhD

When AI Dreams: Hidden Risks of LLMs

As LLMs show hidden and deceptive behavior, new risks are emerging. Learn how CloudResearch is building defensive AI to protect data quality and research integrity.

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OpenAI's 28-Day Study on Connect
Aaron Moss, PhD

OpenAI's 28-Day Study on Connect

OpenAI and MIT partnered with CloudResearch Connect to conduct a longitudinal study examining how regular ChatGPT use affects emotional well-being. Learn why OpenAI chose CloudResearch for this ambitious 28-day research project involving 981 participants and over 32,000 surveys.

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A City Divided between Hope and Fear
Reuben Paris

A City Divided between Hope and Fear

Beacon Research partnered with CloudResearch to survey over 600 New York City voters using the AI-powered Engage platform, uncovering an election driven by two ...

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Changes to Connect Pricing
Charles Jamerlan

Changes to Connect Pricing

Starting January 1, 2025, the standard service fee on Connect increased to 40%. This adjustment supports our ongoing investment in delivering the industry's most advanced research platform, while maintaining our steadfast commitment to academic and non-profit research by keeping their service fee at 25%

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Sympathy for a Killer
Zohn Rosen, PhD

Sympathy for a Killer

CloudResearch conducted a study to better understand the people who support Luigi Mangione's decision to murder UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson

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CloudResearch is Now SOC2 Compliant!
Charles Jamerlan

CloudResearch is Now SOC2 Compliant!

Discover how SOC2 compliance, alongside CloudResearch's commitment to security through certifications and best practices, ensures data security and customer trust in the digital age.

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Time to Move Your Mind and Improve Your Mood
Yrjö Rinne & Michiel Spapé

Time to Move Your Mind and Improve Your Mood

A recent time perception study examines the relationship between activity and mental time and explores the potential link to detecting depression and inspiring potential new treatments. Learn more from CloudResearch grant winners Yrjö Rinne & Michiel Spapé.

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Research on The Self-Regulation of Face-Touching: Running a Remote Observational Experiment
Lucas Keller & Marie-Claire Kabengele

Research on The Self-Regulation of Face-Touching: Running a Remote Observational Experiment

In March 2020, health authorities around the globe were quick to release recommendations to avoid COVID-19 infections. As many things about COVID-19 were uncertain, several recommendations were based on research on other infectious diseases, some of which are transmitted via smear infections. One of these recommendations that remains on the CDC's website to this date was to "avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands."

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Juneteenth is a Federal Holiday. But What Do People Know About it?
Aaron Moss, PhD

Juneteenth is a Federal Holiday. But What Do People Know About it?

Despite widespread media attention in recent years, polling conducted by CloudResearch in June of 2021 and again in 2022 shows that most people know little about the holiday Juneteenth. Only about half of the US population, for example, knows that Juneteenth marks the end of slavery. And only one fifth of people have plans to celebrate the holiday this year.

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The Trouble with Maintaining Data Quality in Online Research
CloudResearch

The Trouble with Maintaining Data Quality in Online Research

When it comes to data quality in market research, our team at CloudResearch thrives on creating solutions and leading important conversations. What better way to “talk shop” than joining experienced UX Researcher and industry thought leader, Matt Valle on his...

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Do Parenthood and Parental Care Motives Lead To Increased Religiosity?
Nicholas Kerry, PhD

Do Parenthood and Parental Care Motives Lead To Increased Religiosity?

Psychologists have spent a lot of time studying how parenting affects children. Attachment theory, for example, may be one of the widest studied topics in all of psychology. But despite a longstanding focus on parenting and children, relatively little time has been spent thinking about how parenthood affects parents themselves. This is in many ways surprising.

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How to Conduct an Online Pricing Survey
Aaron Moss, PhD

How to Conduct an Online Pricing Survey

How much is your audience willing to pay for your product or service? Brands often struggle to answer this crucial question; online pricing surveys offer a fast, efficient solution.

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Pay Justice in a Newly Developing Economy
Zohn Rosen, PhD

Pay Justice in a Newly Developing Economy

In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic initiated an unprecedented shift in the American workforce. In a matter of weeks a significant portion of the labor force shifted to working online, a change likely to remain in place for the foreseeable future. Although many of these workers are continuing to perform their pre-pandemic jobs from home, an ever-expanding number are participants in the gig-economy.

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Five Things You Should Be Doing in Online Data Collection
Aaron Moss, PhD

Five Things You Should Be Doing in Online Data Collection

Researchers are responsible for being an expert, or at least knowledgeable, in several areas. There's the topic of your research, the methods common within your discipline, best practices for open science, and the mediums used to communicate about your work—just to name a few. For many researchers, online data collection has been revolutionary, helping collect data faster and more affordably than ever before.

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Understanding Geolocations and Their Connection to Data Quality
Richa Gautam

Understanding Geolocations and Their Connection to Data Quality

In this blog, we outline the history of our Block Duplicate Geolocations tool, provide an overview of what geolocations are and the information they convey, and present the results of a study that examined the quality of data obtained from repeated geolocations that are not linked to server farms. We conclude by outlining the steps we are taking to change the default options on our Block Duplicate Geolocations feature.

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How to Gather Demographically-Representative Samples in Online Studies
Aaron Moss, PhD

How to Gather Demographically-Representative Samples in Online Studies

Most social science research relies on convenience sampling of participants, meaning few samples look like let alone represent the general population. For many research questions, convenience samples are not a problem. Yet, for other questions, being able to capture and represent the opinions of people from different groups is essential. Because most researchers do not routinely gather these kinds of samples, knowing where to find one when it's needed can be difficult.

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Recruiting Older Adults Online
Richa Gautam

Recruiting Older Adults Online

People of different ages vary greatly in their beliefs and behaviors. For example, a recent Pew report outlines wide generational gaps in people's opinions on several political issues like presidential job approval, perceptions of racism, views on immigration, and political ideology (Pew Research Center, 2018). Furthermore, some issues, like the use of Medicare, depend on age and therefore are more relevant to older adults than younger ones.

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How to Obtain an Online National Sample Stratified by Wealth
Aaron Moss, PhD

How to Obtain an Online National Sample Stratified by Wealth

A Case Study From a Recent JESP Article A new study appearing in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology suggests Americans strongly believe in economic mobility because they fail to appreciate how vast wealth inequality really is. In this blog,...

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Conducting Research: How Online Research Tools Can Help
Leib Litman, PhD

Conducting Research: How Online Research Tools Can Help

When researchers learn about conducting research online, it can sometimes be difficult to understand quite how all the tools that are available can actually be applied to a project. This post is about how specific research ideas can be carried...

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Showing 10 of 161 articles

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