US-based online sample provider Peanut Labs has this week announced the formation of a consultative group of prominent researchers and clients to study and combat the problem of fraudulent online responses.

The group, named the Optimus Advisory Board, aims to provide 'third-party expertise in finding forward-looking solutions to prevent the further corruption of market research data by professional survey takers and market research fraudsters.'

A report by comScore hit the headlines in 2005 claiming that less than 1% of Internet survey takers accounted for 30% of all surveys taken - the claim has been widely quoted and has prompted various initiatives from researchers looking to prevent fraudulent activity such as duplicate responses, 'speeding' and 'straight-lining' through surveys and even automation of response by survey 'bots'.

Peanut Labs COO Ali Moiz says bad respondents and frauds cost marketers millions of wasted research dollars each year and drag down the reputation of the whole MR industry. 'With that in mind, we called upon some of the top minds in the space to offer their input and expertise to help us combat this problem as we look to find a technological solution to improve online data quality.'

Inaugural members include:

• Amy Raihill, Consumer Insights Manager, Shell Oil Company
• Artie Bulgrin, SVP Research, ESPN
• Chuck Miller, General Manager, DMS-AOL
• Greg Durkin, VP Research, Warner Bros
• Henry Schapiro, Vice President, MarketCast
• James Mendelsohn, VP Corporate Strategy, Capital One
• Josh Chasin, Chief Research Officer, comScore
• Justin Fromm, Research Director, ABC Television
• Kristin Luck, President, Decipher Inc.
• Mike Donatello, Director of Research, USA Today
• Patricia Graham, CMO, Knowledge Networks
• Patrick Glaser, Director, Respondent Cooperation, CMOR
• Rich Ratcliff, EVP, Carbonview Research
• Ron Gailey, SVP and Director of Research, Washington Mutual
• Simon Chadwick, Partner, Cambiar
• Steve McHugh, Senior Vice President, Millward Brown, and
• Steve Oi, Senior CIM, Kraft Foods.

Web site: www.peanutlabs.com .

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