Nfield’s Online and CAPI surveys can perform even the most complex tasks with ease. But the more you demand from your surveys, the more places there are for tiny configuration errors to creep in, disrupting your fieldwork’s flow and maybe forcing projects to be paused or restarted. Issues such as routing errors, quota mismatches or reporting issues often only surface once surveys are already underway. Wouldn’t it be better if you could stress-test every survey before going live?

Meet the Nfield Interview Simulator

Nfield’s Interview Simulator enables you to put surveys to the test by running simulated interviews online using the same logic, quotas and sample integrations as real fieldwork. By feeding realistic data into your survey and letting it pass through every stage of the process, you can validate your setup before engaging respondents.

The significance of online simulation

Simulating interviews online is significantly better than running dummy data offline.

Traditional dummy data generation from NIPO ODIN Developer, which runs offline, randomly assigns answers to surveys. While useful for basic checks, this approach does not understand quotas, sample data or online logic — and the resulting data often lacks realism.

The Interview Simulator works differently. Simulated interviews are conducted identically to real online interviews, mimicking what happens when actual respondents provide data which moves all the way through your survey. This ensures far more meaningful validation and realistic test data.

Benefits of interview simulation

Running realistic data through your setup before going live delivers two important benefits:

1. Validating survey setup
Simulated interviews make it easy to verify routing, filtering and quota connections. These can confirm your script is correctly linked to quota variables, labels and logic.

2. Getting ahead of reporting requirements
Reporting increasingly needs to be ready from day one. Simulated interviews reveal realistic expectations of the data your survey is likely to deliver, so you can appropriately configure dashboards, cross tables and exports before fieldwork begins.

What the Interview Simulator can do

With simulated interviews you can:

• Test routing and filtering using actual interview logic.
• Validate quota setups, including least filled.
• Use sample data to test sample-driven survey logic.
• Generate data that feeds directly into Nfield Reporting.
• Download standard output files for external tools.

Spot quota issues before they become fieldwork problems

Quota connection errors are one of the most common reasons for stopping live fieldwork. With the Interview Simulator, quota behavior is immediately visible. If a quota cell does not fill, the issue is often something simple — such as a mismatch between script variables and quota labels.

Identifying these issues before launch helps avoid costly delays and rework.

Use sample data in simulations

Unlike offline dummy data, the Interview Simulator understands sample data. This makes it possible to test surveys where routing or questions depend on values passed in from the sample, such as different paths for different groups.

You can use the sample from the original survey or upload a specific sample just for simulation. If your requested number of simulated interviews exceeds available sample records, the system clearly reports what happened.

Simulate with confidence

The Nfield Interview Simulator helps teams launch fieldwork with confidence. By validating routing, quotas, sample logic and reporting upfront, you reduce risk, save time and avoid unpleasant surprises once fieldwork is live.

To explore how to set up and use this feature in depth, with step-by-step technical guidance and examples, see the Interview Simulator documentation in the Nfield e-learning course. You might also find it useful to watch the corresponding session from Academy #46 – Simulate Interviews to see this feature in action.

After having organized a series of recap session for Nfield Online and CAPI in the last months, we would now like to invite you for a new regular NIPO Academy session, this time the topics are quota enhancements and the Online ODIN Developer.

Quota in Nfield has been covered in previous Academy sessions. As we have added several new features recently, mostly aimed at ease of use, we would like to demonstrate these new options.

After having organized a series of recap session for Nfield Online and CAPI in the last months, we would now like to invite you for a new regular NIPO Academy session, this time the topics are quota enhancements and the Online ODIN Developer.

Earlier this year we released the Online ODIN Developer (see also Academy 69). We are still steadily adding features and in this webinar we will also show what has been added since the first release, plus a new script debugging feature.

After organizing the recap sessions about the current state of Nfield CAPI and Online, we would like to complete the research process, by organizing 2 NIPO Academy sessions on working with (legacy) Nfield data.

The webinars will be about the Nfield data files and data export options, and as such relevant for both Nfield Online and CAPI.

Session content:

• Exporting data
• DSC

After organizing the recap sessions about the current state of Nfield CAPI and Online, we would like to complete the research process, by organizing 2 NIPO Academy sessions on working with (legacy) Nfield data.

The webinars will be about the Nfield data files and data export options, and as such relevant for both Nfield Online and CAPI.

Session content:

• U- and O-files
• Media files
• Paradata
• Audit log

Knowing exactly where your surveys are at, in terms of both completion and responses, is enormously beneficial to your project team.

Nfield enables this via two powerful features:

• Fieldwork Reporting – interactive, shareable reports for live project tracking.
• Data Repository – a continuous data feed into your own reporting and automation environment.

Both of these features are now available in Nfield Online and Nfield CAPI (previously only Nfield Online).

Fieldwork reporting: live visibility for you and your clients

Fieldwork reporting gives project teams immediate insight into what is happening in the field, without having to wait for data processing, file export, or building of custom dashboards.

Reports are generated automatically inside the Nfield Manager using built-in Power BI integration. Live results are visible with an approximate refresh time of 10 minutes after interviews are collected.

What you can monitor

Fieldwork reporting focuses on operational progress and data quality:

This makes it easy to identify routing issues, overly long sections or problematic questions while the study is still running.

Shareable live reports

A key benefit from Nfield’s fieldwork reporting feature is the way it supports transparent collaboration.

• Easy sharing: Generate a shareable link to the report.
• Convenient viewing: Invited third parties can view without logging in.
• Control: You can set an expiration date and revoke access at any time.

This allows you to safely share live progress with clients, internal teams or partners, without giving them access to the Nfield Manager itself.

Controlling what appears in reports

Through the Design/Transformations settings, you can choose which questions fields are included in reports. This enables you to keep reports appropriately focused by excluding irrelevant variables, so stakeholders can interpret them more easily. Because fields are simply excluded from reports rather than being removed, they can be re-instated at any time with minimal effort.

Data repository: your data, continuously delivered

The data repository provides a continuous pipeline that delivers interview data into a dedicated database for your own reporting, dashboards, and automation. Instead of relying on manual exports or batch processes, completed interviews are extracted approximately every 10 minutes and made available in a structured, queryable format. This allows research teams and data specialists to connect BI tools, build custom dashboards, and automate workflows directly on top of Nfield data, significantly reducing technical overhead and speeding up access to real-time insights.

To activate fieldwork reporting and the data repository

Both fieldwork reporting and the data repository are available in Nfield Online. To activate these capabilities for Nfield CAPI, please contact [email protected]. If you would like to see the functionality in action, we recommend watching Academy 24 – Nfield Reporting and Academy 35 – Standard and Custom Reporting. Once enabled, you can immediately start using real-time fieldwork reporting and continuous data delivery for both Online and CAPI projects.

We have started a new series of NIPO Academy sessions about the current state of Nfield Online, to replace a whole string of webinars we did previously and have become outdated. We would like to invite you to the last 2 sessions in this series, about fieldwork management and metrics.

Session content:

• Survey metrics

We have started a new series of NIPO Academy sessions about the current state of Nfield Online, to replace a whole string of webinars we did previously and have become outdated. We would like to invite you to the last 2 sessions in this series, about fieldwork management and metrics.

Session content:

• Pause and resume surveys
• Surveys in waves

A new series of NIPO Academy sessions about the current state of Nfield Online, to replace a whole string of webinars we did previously and have become outdated. We would like to invite you to the first 3 sessions in this series, so you can catch up with all features that Nfield offers for online surveys, from the survey setup, to sample and invitation management, to monitoring projects.

Session content:

• Email invitations

A new series of NIPO Academy sessions about the current state of Nfield Online, to replace a whole string of webinars we did previously and have become outdated. We would like to invite you to the first 3 sessions in this series, so you can catch up with all features that Nfield offers for online surveys, from the survey setup, to sample and invitation management, to monitoring projects.

Session content:

• Monitoring surveys II
• Sample table
• Start interview with respondent key

On February 12, 2026, Reuters reported that Dutch telecom provider Odido had been hacked, with cyber criminals accessing sensitive data from around 6 million customer accounts.

The warning is clear: even large, well-resourced organizations are vulnerable to significant, large-scale cyber-attacks. This has to be a wake-up call to every organization that handles, processes and stores personal data.

What this means for market researchers

Market research is nothing without respondent data. The risks faced by market research companies in the event of a data breach could be catastrophic. From regulatory scrutiny under GDPR and possible financial penalties to reputational damage and loss of trust, everything is at stake.

Even when the data concerned does not include highly sensitive information like bank details, the GDPR still requires market research companies to implement appropriate technical and organizational safeguards.

The good news is that, here at NIPO, we never let our guard down when it comes to the security of our Nfield market research platform. We are fully committed to supporting our customers in meeting the legal obligations which protect both their respondents’ data and their business’ future.

ISO 27001:2022 – strengthened Nfield security

NIPO recently upgraded to ISO 27001:2022 certification – the leading international standard for information security management systems. This certification confirms that NIPO applies:

• A structured, risk-based security framework.
• Strict access controls and governance.
• Continuous monitoring and improvement.

For Nfield users, this provides independent assurance that the platform meets high international security standards.

Essential advice for market researchers

Using Nfield for your market research gives you the reassurance of a highly secure platform. But this is just the start. Maintaining data security is a shared responsibility. Your organization also needs to adopt best practices and put our security enablers to work.

Here’s what you need to do in Nfield to minimize data breach risks.

1. Keep intruders out: enable two-factor authentication (2FA)

Passwords can be compromised. Two-factor authentication adds a second verification step which blocks unauthorized access even if credentials are stolen. Enabling 2FA is one of the most effective ways to prevent attackers from logging into your Nfield domain.

2. Reduce sensitivity: practice data minimization

Restrict the data you collect to only what is absolutely necessary for your research objectives. The less personal data you store, the lower the risk.

As discussed in our GDPR guidance, within Nfield this means:

• Avoiding unnecessary personal variables.
• Defining data retention policies.
• Deleting identifiers once no longer needed.

3. Don’t keep all your eggs in one basket: store identifiers separately

Use the sample table to store personal identifiers instead of embedding them in survey responses.

This allows you to:

• Pseudonymize or anonymize sample data.
• Delete specific fields or interviews.
• Maintain precise control over retained data.

Separation reduces the impact of potential unauthorized access.

4. Minimize exposure: use automatic survey clean-up

The more data you’re storing, the greater the amount of damage in the event of a breach. There’s probably no need to keep hold of surveys that have become inactive. Nfield’s automatic survey clean-up feature deletes expired surveys, thereby keeping your exposure to a minimum. This both improves GDPR compliance and keeps your domain organized.

Clean environments are more secure environments.

Turning lessons into action

The breach affecting Odido is a strong reminder that cyber-attacks are an ever-present threat to organizations of any size.

For market researchers, being trusted to protect respondent data is everything.

Our advice for significantly reducing the risk of data exposure is to:

• Use an ISO 27001:2022 certified platform (such as Nfield).
• Enable Two-Factor Authentication.
• Practice data minimization.
• Store identifiers separately from associated data.
• Make use of automated clean-up.

And remember, security is not a one-time setup. It’s an ongoing discipline.

A new series of NIPO Academy sessions about the current state of Nfield Online, to replace a whole string of webinars we did previously and have become outdated. We would like to invite you to the first 3 sessions in this series, so you can catch up with all features that Nfield offers for online surveys, from the survey setup, to sample and invitation management, to monitoring projects.

Session content:

• Set up survey
• Fieldwork settings
• Monitoring I

Different countries and industries often have their own specific regulations when it comes to data storage. To comply with this, market research companies need to give careful consideration to where their respondent data is stored.

For example, countries such as Singapore and industries such as finance or healthcare require personal and research data to remain within the country, sometimes even within local premises.

It’s therefore no surprise that compliance is a top challenge for stalling the adoption of cloud solutions, according to IT decision makers, published in the Foundry’s Cloud Computing Study 2024.

To satisfy the need for compliant survey data storage, we have been working with Microsoft and other parties to develop a suitable solution for users of Nfield Online and CAPI.

Achieving compliant local data storage

Nfield Online and CAPI surveys are already deployed from four different Microsoft Azure cloud environments – Hong Kong SAR (serving Asia Pacific, except the Chinese mainland), Amsterdam (serving Europe and Africa), Virginia (serving the Americas) and Beijing (serving the Chinese mainland) – to facilitate speedy operation.

To enable data storage compliance alongside this, we have developed the ability to separate survey deployment from storage of respondent data. This means it is now possible, for example, to deploy a survey from the Hong Kong SAR Microsoft Data Center and store the respondent data in the Singapore Microsoft Data Center.

This locally compliant data storage is being achieved through utilizing the Azure cloud Infrastructure and, where this is challenging, setting up local facilities.

Whatever requirements Nfield Online and CAPI users have, we can quickly configure a suitable solution which strikes a balance between a whole raft of considerations, including security, investment, ease of maintenance and system monitoring, ISO 27001:2022 compliance, speed of delivery, customer preference and potential for growth.

Nfield local data storage applies to the following information:

• Open and closed answer data
• Media capture during an interview
• GPS location data
• Other paradata – including quota information, appointment, address, interviewer’s device)
• Respondent data

Questionnaires and associated media files used during interviews remain stored within the survey engine in one Nfield’s four deployments.

Feature limitations when using local data storage

For technical reasons, a number of Nfield tools and features cannot be provided when local data storage is in place. These are:

X Reporting and fieldwork reporting functionality
To work around this: data can still be exported for use in external reporting or analytics tools.

X The Data repository feature
It is, unfortunately, not possible to deliver continuous data feeds and repository-based insights to external dashboards.

X Advanced quality control feature
Basic fieldwork controls remain available, but advanced quality assurance features are not.

X Geographic replication
While this is not included by default, replication within the same country may be available upon request. This is subject to local availability and is offered at additional cost.

Contact us

Contact us to find out more about local data storage compliance and ask for a quote. Check here to see existing Azure locations. If no Azure location is available where you require one, ask us about other local data storage solutions.

NIPO recently released the beta version of the new Online ODIN Developer, which is fully integrated within the Nfield Manager. Development is still work-in-progress but already allows some survey scripts to be written in the new Developer. In this series of NIPO Academy sessions we aim to present the current status of the Online ODIN Developer and outline forthcoming development steps.

Open-ended survey questions have the potential to gather deep insights into the “why” behind consumer behavior. However, respondents rarely provide the multiple layers of reasoning that underpin their thoughts and decisions. But now, thanks to Nfield’s new integration with inca SmartProbe, this has all changed.

inca SmartProbe is an AI-driven solution that dynamically prompts respondents to elaborate further on their answers to uncover richer, more meaningful insights. Its integration in Nfield gives market researchers a whole new level of opportunity through utilizing open-ended questions.

Why inca SmartProbe is a market research game-changer

Traditional open-ended questions capture a single layer of thought. With inca SmartProbe, every response becomes a doorway to establishing underlying motivations, emotions, and context that static surveys simply can’t reach.

According to inca’s benchmarks, inca SmartProbe delivers:

• 2.8× higher word count — as respondents share more thoughtful, detailed feedback.
• 2× more differentiated findings — enabling clearer distinctions between audiences and more robust segmentation.
• 2.4× greater likelihood to explain behavior — giving researchers insights that lead to more actionable recommendations.

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In essence, this technology turns quantitative research into a more conversational, human experience — one that listens, learns, and adapts in real time. For market research clients, that means richer narratives, clearer patterns, and sharper strategic direction — all without adding manual probing or fieldwork time. For a deeper look at how inca SmartProbe works, watch their official video on YouTube.

How inca SmartProbe complements Nfield

The inca SmartProbe integration in Nfield opens up a whole new world of possibilities for bringing qualitative depth into quantitative surveys. We’re talking about:

• Turning simple satisfaction questions into deeper storytelling moments.
• Enabling large-scale surveys to feel more like live conversations.
• Capturing emotional and behavioral nuance at global scale, across different languages.

How? Here’s a typical scenario to illustrate:

1. Question 1 (Q1) is an open-ended question which asks: “What do you think about the drink?”.
2. The respondent provides their answer.
3. Nfield automatically sends the response (together with Q1 context) to inca SmartProbe.
4. inca SmartProbe instantly generates a contextual, AI-powered follow-up probe question, such as:
   “You mentioned the drink tastes refreshing — can you tell us what makes it feel refreshing to you?”.
5. The respondent then answers this probe, thereby providing deeper and more specific feedback.
6. Both pairs of questions and answers are sent to inca SmartProbe to obtain the demerit scores (see below for more information about demerit).

In this way, Nfield’s robust data collection teams up with inca SmartProbe’s intelligent follow-up capability to deliver next level research insight.

Check it out

We’ve put together a showcase video to demonstrate how Nfield seamlessly connects with inca SmartProbe’s API to enhance open-ended questions in a live survey.

This gives you a flavor of what to expect when inca SmartProbe gets to work within an Nfield market research survey. inca SmartProbe’s capability extends to:

• Multi-probing sequences, where follow-up questions evolve based on each response.
• Smart configuration, so researchers can define the research topic, target audience, and areas to explore or avoid.
• Quality assurance, with a demerit score assigned to low-quality or irrelevant responses so you can disqualify or flag them later as necessary during data cleaning.

Watch the demo video:

Introducing inca SmartProbe Studio

inca SmartProbe Studio is accessed via a web interface. Researchers write their open-ended question in the studio, optionally adding a brief with objectives and context. The AI generates 3 simulated responses with probes to preview — or researchers can try it themselves and provide their own test answers to review the probes generated. When satisfied, the researcher presses a button to generate ready-to-use code to hand to the survey programmer, eliminating back-and-forth between teams.

For more control, Advanced Settings gives complete transparency into how inca’s AI is reasoning, allowing researchers to set specific topics and rules, brief the AI to take on a particular persona, and train it on the fly using examples of good and bad probes.

Key benefits of inca SmartProbe Studio:

• Transparency and control — making it the most sophisticated AI moderation solution available for market research.
• Intuitive to use: any researcher can set up sophisticated single or multi-turn probing with specific rules, and the AI will automatically configure topics for probing.
• Cost savings: run unlimited tests in the Studio without consuming API credits.

Ready to put inca Smartprobe to work?

Our article How to integrate inca SmartProbe with Nfield walks you through how to set up the integration step-by-step, so you can start experimenting with what AI-powered probing can do for you.