Background

The ISO 20252:2019 Market, Opinion and Social Research Standard provides certification to the industry standard (inclusive of Annexes A to F) for market research methodologies.

ADIA members working under the Trust Mark are required to be certified to ISO 20252:2019 and undergo an independent annual audit.

Revised ISO 20252 Standard set for consultation 

A revision of ISO 20252:2019 has been underway since 2024 by the International Organisation for Standardisation Committee.

The primary objective of this global committee is to maintain and keep up to date a single, comprehensive industry quality standard that sets out guidance and requirements directly relating to how market, opinion and social research (including insights and data analytics projects) are planned, carried out, supervised and reported to clients. 

Included in this review is the need to address AI and synthetic data with technical and industry support by the ISO organisation and the global Committee. Countries directly involved in the review include Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, the Netherlands, Peru, Serbia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the USA.

ADIA’s Quality Consultant, Norine Cruse, and Elissa Molloy, Director of preferred supplier ISO Audit Solutions, have represented ADIA on this Global committee. Their involvement ensures that Australia has a voice in the development of the new ISO annexes and that ADIA and our members are well-informed, up-to-date, and prepared to provide best-practice protocols for their businesses and clients. ADIA and our QA Committee are grateful for the time and expertise they have invested on our behalf over the past year. 

Next steps

The global committee has now received the most recent documentation changes that specifically address AI and synthetic data, as well as the development of a new Annex G (N 71), agreed upon in April 2025.   

A consultation phase inviting ADIA members to provide feedback will be launched over the coming month. Of note will be the following sections, which address AI and Synthetic data:

• Core framework Clause 4.1.5.3: Applications of AI
• Annex A: Sampling
• Annex E: Data management and processing
• Annex G: New Panel Management Annex.

ADIA Guidelines  

In preparation for the launch of the new ISO 20252 Standard, ADIA will convene an expert research group to develop guidelines (with the QA Committee's assistance) that are acceptable to members and can serve as a guide for our preferred Australian ISO certifiers when addressing AI/Synthetic data and respondents in an audit. 

ADIA will also provide new training and resources to its members, free of charge, to support their transition to the revised Standard, which will be available through the Academy.