Buy survey and market research data for AI training

What is survey and market research data?

Survey and market research data is the respondent-level record of studies: closed answers, ratings, open-ended text, demographics and, for panels, the same people's answers over time. It comes with a questionnaire and a codebook that explain each variable.

AI buyers value it because it links stated views to the kind of person who holds them, which web text does not. Open-ended answers add natural language written in response to a known question.

What do AI teams use survey data for?

AI teams use survey data mostly for evaluation and for modeling people. GlobalOpinionQA, published by Anthropic, is built from questions and answers in cross-national surveys and was designed to measure how well model answers represent opinions in different countries. Its Hugging Face card lists a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

• Evaluation: comparing model answers with real answer distributions by country or segment
• Open-end coding: training classifiers and summarizers on human-coded verbatims
• Simulated respondents: models that predict how a segment would answer a new question
• Forecasting: linking stated intent to later panel behavior

Our page on evaluation datasets covers what makes a good test set.

Do respondents have to consent to AI training?

Respondents have to consent to AI training under the main industry codes, even where US law is less specific. The Insights Association Code, last updated September 2026, says personal data should not be used in AI training data sets without informed consent, and requires respondents' consent before personal data passes to third parties unless the law allows otherwise.

The ICC/ESOMAR International Code says separate consent must be obtained for non-research purposes, and limits personal data to the purpose for which it was collected. Ask to see the consent wording respondents accepted, and check that it names AI training or licensing to third parties.

If a panel changes its terms to allow training, note that the FTC has warned that quietly changing terms of service could be unfair or deceptive. Older studies collected under narrower terms are the riskiest part of any archive.

The US privacy laws that apply to survey data depend on who answered and what they were asked.

Panel data raises re-identification risk, because many waves of answers about one person can single them out without a name. The Insights Association Code also asks researchers to ensure personal information cannot be reverse-engineered by AI inference. Our de-identification guide covers the methods.

How much does survey data cost?

Survey data has published costs only for new fieldwork. No buyer or marketplace we checked publishes rates for existing archives, and Datarade lists panel survey datasets with pricing available on request.

• Prolific: participant pay of at least $8.00 an hour, $12.00 recommended, plus a 42.8% platform fee for corporate customers
• clickworker, part of LXT: rewards from $0.25 per participant plus a 40% fee, according to LXT's June 2026 announcement

At Prolific's recommended rate, a 10-minute survey costs $2.00 per respondent before the fee and about $2.86 with it, on our arithmetic from its published pricing. See the Prolific and LXT profiles.

Who owns a market research archive?

A market research archive can belong to the clients who commissioned each study rather than the agency that ran it, depending on the contract. Check each client agreement before licensing an agency's back catalog.

Open-ended answers are text written by respondents, so check the panel terms for a license from respondents as well as their consent.

If you hold UK or EU data

If respondents are in the UK or EU, their answers are personal data under UK GDPR or EU GDPR until anonymized, and answers about health, religion or politics are special category data. UK researchers also work to the Market Research Society's MRS Code of Conduct, whose current edition took effect in May 2023.

How do you source vetted survey data?

You source vetted survey data by naming the countries, topics and panel waves you need, then checking the consent wording behind each study. Every seller we shortlist passes our eight-point vetting standard. Book a free consultation or submit a data requirement.