What happens to people who answer surveys every day and get screened out halfway through? For the Nabel Research & Insights Observatory, we interviewed 221 French panellists by voice about the surveys they answer — including this one.
Answering to Staynabel research & insight · France
Sept 2026 fieldwork · 221 respondents · 12 min median interview
Screened out at the last question, and learning fast.
93%
have been screened out after several minutes of a survey. Among those who answer every day, 94%; among those answering several times a week, 42 out of 42. It is the common experience of the panel, not an incident.
27%
now answer the first questions so they won’t be screened out, one in ten of them often. Job title, children, age, purchases: whatever the screener seems to be looking for.
42%
admit answering at random, rushing or giving the expected answer at least sometimes — yet 61% name no subject at all where they would be inaccurate. What they describe is a missing option, not a lie.
13%
would be most honest with a human interviewer, behind an online form (45%) and an AI voice interview (42%). The reason they give, almost word for word: no judgement.
You get disqualified at the end of a survey, after filling the whole thing in, without earning a single point. […] To me, that’s theft. Theft of time.
Man, 55+, talking to the Nabel agent · quote translated from French, audio shortened
Methodology
Mainland France · 4–20 Sept 2026
221
respondents registered with at least one survey panel in France, all interviewed by voice
172
complete voice interviews with the Nabel agent, plus 49 partial ones kept question by question
12 min
median length of a complete interview
7 days
of fieldwork.
What the panel learned, and what it costs your data
The full report goes further. 29 pages, in French:
- 6 findings on screen-outs, honesty, trust in polls and interview formats
- Three panellists’ stories, and their own words transcribed word for word
- 3 opportunities for research agencies, client-side insight teams and panels
- The interview guide and the full methodology