It is possible and tempting to cheat on survey questions for many reasons, and in a number of different ways. This article will progress through the stages of online paid survey participation and highlight the areas where cheating is most likely to occur, and the reasons why some survey takers feel the need to do so.

The initial join up

Apart from the basics of the applicant’s name and email address, most online survey panels will require the completion of a number of profile surveys. These are designed to form a demographic - as each paying survey will target a particular demographic, and earn the panel members that match, an email invitation to complete it.

Now let us consider who the majority of surveys target. As they are commissioned by Companies that sell consumer products or services, they want the opinion of people with a household income sufficient to be able to buy their products. Families, rather than couples or singles, also have a greater survey range, as kids are quite often targeted. Therefore, “savvy” survey takers could cheat by embellishing the profile surveys in an endeavor to increase their invitation opportunities. There are times when belonging to a particular age group, residential location, or even health ailments, will attract more surveys.

Screeners

Unfortunately, the profile surveys do not automatically qualify panel members to every invited survey. Therefore, at the start of every survey, there is “screener” questions designed to ensure the survey taker is a precise match to the intended target market. Here are a few examples:

Starting with an obvious one “Do you smoke cigarettes?” It can be assumed with some certainty that this survey is targeting smokers - could be for nicotine patches. A non-smoker will not qualify (screened out). A non-smoking cheater will answer “Yes” and be permitted to continue.

Some survey topics appear regularly, one being beverages. So there may be a screener question like “Have you completed a survey about beverages in the last 6 months?” Even if the cheater has, he/she knows a “No” answer is probably necessary to continue.

Another recurring survey topic is various grocery products. One of the screeners in these will ask if the survey taker does “All or most; at least half; only a little; or none of the household grocery shopping.”  The survey is targeting people who choose which grocery products are purchased for their household.  Whether the cheater does the shopping or not, he/she must answer “All or at least half” to qualify.

The Survey itself

Once the survey taker has successfully negotiated the screeners, and qualified, cheating takes a different form as it is no longer necessary to “stretch the truth.” The cheater now simply tries to finish the survey and collect the reward in the shortest possible time, with scant regard for accuracy. This is flagged by the survey panel when it detects:

Inconsistent answers - Often the same question is asked twice in the same survey, once at the beginning, and again towards the end. Contradiction due to indiscriminate box ticking catches people out.

Answering too fast - Completing a survey in a much shorter time than the panel considers it should take. This indicates the survey was not completed with the thought and consideration necessary and required.

Pattern of responses - Many surveys contain a number of options, such as ten statements where the survey taker is asked to click Option A, B, C or D for each statement. If, say, Option B is selected in every instance, alarm bells will be activated. Similarly, continual “None of the above” responses will arouse suspicion. Some panels even throw in a “Click C for this one” to check attention.

Gibberish or incomprehensible comments - Some surveys ask for a comment or description, providing a box for the survey taker to type their response. Irrelevant comments will render the survey invalid.

The bottom line is sooner or later a cheat will be caught out. Even if deception results in some surveys confirmed as “successfully completed”, if there are contradictions to profile surveys discovered, eventually membership will be cancelled and ALL accumulated cash/points lost.

In other words, if people cheat on survey questions, sooner or later they will be found out.