The unit, which is part of Researchbods’ global data collection division, will develop an operational framework to monitor survey respondents at various touchpoints and assign them an integrity score.

The work of the unit is intended to combat survey fraud, such as bot farms, ghost completes or professional panellists.

The framework works by firstly identifying whether the person completing the survey is an actual human respondent, before then measuring the plausibility and reliability of their answers.

The data integrity team has been running for the last three months within Researchbods to allow the firm to measure the validity of the tools before making them available to all clients.

Researchbods claimed that on average, 32% of respondents failed integrity checks, with this rising in areas such as business-to-business sampling.

Thomas Bates, head of client services at the global data collection division in Strat7 Researchbods, said: “Ultimately, we firmly believe issues caused by technology can be solved by technology.

“This is why we have created this new business unit – to ensure the thousands of hours we spend per year checking respondent quality is done with the latest technology but overseen by our trusted people, championing the process as experts in the field of survey fraud prevention.”

Sales director at the global data collection division Dale Henry added: “We want to give clients the confidence and conviction to be able to stand behind their data, when it comes to informing significant strategic business decisions for end clients.

“This team certainly helps us to do that, and the team will continually evolve as tech inevitably drives further innovation across our industry.”