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October 16, 2026

Beyond Our Own Panels: How We Vet Our Fieldwork Partners

At ekas, our own global panels give us direct access to respondents across a broad range of markets and audiences, allowing us to manage recruitment with a strong focus on quality.
For some projects however, like those requiring additional specialist or niche reach, we can we can complement our own capabilities and further extend our reach with a trusted network of fieldwork partners. These partners are carefully vetted and regularly reviewed against our quality standards, providing additional flexibility without compromising the quality of recruitment.

Choosing the right partners

Our approach is simple: we hold our partners to the same standards we set for our own panels.

That starts with the vetting process. Before a new fieldwork partner is approved to work with us, we review their documentation, processes and references, as well as whether they meet the standards set out in our ISO-certified quality processes, and that means not every partner we assess is approved. In fact, across 2025 and 2026, nearly 25% of prospective partners were ultimately not onboarded due to being unsuccessful in the vetting process.

Reasons included incomplete paperwork, failed reference checks or simply not meeting the standards we require.

Quality in numbers

  • 150 partners successfully vetted across 2025/26
  • 45 did not successfully complete the onboarding process
  • 24 partners fully audited across 2025/26
  • 447 partner reviews and meetings across 2025 and 2026 so far
The checks continue after onboarding
The vetting doesn’t stop once a partner is approved. Once a partner is working with us, we continue to review their performance through regular meetings, project feedback and quality checks.
In 2025, we carried out 227 partner reviews and meetings, with a further 220 completed in 2026 so far. We also carry out more detailed audits to ensure the high quality standards we set are continually being maintained, with 24 partners undergoing full audits across 2025 and 2026. This means we’re not just relying on what we learned about a partner when they first joined the network. We keep checking how they’re performing over time and if a partner no longer meets the standards we expect, we take action.
Young woman and biometric scanning, digital hologram and encrypted data, ekas, fraud prevention

Guide: Fraud Prevention across the Research Lifecycle

Once fieldwork begins, protecting data quality continues throughout the research lifecycle. Our practical guide explores the checks and approaches that can help prevent fraud before, during and after a study. Download the guide.

In Conclusion

Our own panels and custom recruitment remain a key part of how we connect clients with the right respondents. Where a project calls for additional reach, our fieldwork partner network gives us another way to support that recruitment while applying the same quality standards.
For clients, much of this happens in the background, but it means that when we do need to extend recruitment beyond our own panels, the partners we bring in have been properly assessed and continue to be reviewed.

Get in touch to learn how we can help you reach the right people for your study.

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We contact, interview, recruit, and collect data from Australians every day and have done since 1971. We know Australia and its people like no one else.

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