Global Data Quality (GDQ) Data Quality Benchmarking Project

Join the Insights Association and Global Data Qualitative in an industry research on research initiative that seeks to quantitatively define and monitor what makes “good” data quality.
 

High quality data is the foundation of reliable research, informed decision-making, and strategic business intelligence.  Led by the Insights Association, the Global Data Quality (GDQ) Data Quality Benchmarking Project is a tracking study that will establish clear, basic metrics of what "good" data quality looks like at an industry-level and monitor them over time. With these norms, this initiative aims to contribute to the development of globally accepted data quality buying signals and fuel innovation. Fueled by data provided by your peers in the insights, market research and analytics industry, the Data Quality Benchmarking Project will:

• Quantitatively define what quality benchmarks look like.
• Set standards or norms that can be used to assess industry performance over time and provide a point of comparison for companies.
• Identify areas for industry improvement and encourage innovation. 

The base wave, built on 2Q 2024 data, reports on the following 8 descriptive metrics: incidence rate, pre-survey removal rates, length of interview, abandon rate, device type, in-survey cleanout rate, use of link encryption, and post-survey cleanout rate. For this initial wave, we compared the data by company type (sample provider and research agency) and study audience (B2B and B2C).

PROJECT STATUS AS OF JUNE 27, 2025: 

Events & Media Coverage

Office Hours: GDQ Data Quality Benchmarking Project
Join leaders of Global Data Quality’s Data Quality Benchmarking Project for an open Q&A session. Come with your questions, leave with the answers you need to participate in Wave 1 of this groundbreaking industry study.
June 2, 2025 | 9:00 - 9:30am ET | Register here
June 10, 2025 | 4;00 - 4:30pm ET | Register here
June 12, 2025 | 3:00 - 3:30pm ET | Register here
June 16, 2025 | 3:00 - 3:30pm ET | Register here
June 18, 2025 | 10:00 - 10:30am ET | Register here
June 23, 2025 | 9:30 - 10:00am ET | Register here

Quantifying Good: The Data Quality Benchmarking Project
Greenbook's IIEX 2025
May 1, 2025 | In-person

Quantifying ‘Good’ Data Quality – Key Benchmarks & Insights
Insights Association
April 29, 2025 | Virtual
Recording
Slides

Ignite Data Quality
Insights Association
April 14, 2025 | In-person

Quantifying ‘Good’ Data Quality: Key Takeaways for Research Practitioners and Organizations
Market Research Institute International (MRII)
April 9, 2025
Article

MRS Thinks: Tackling the data quality crisis and bolstering trust in research 
Market Research Society (MRS) 
March 11, 2025 
Live coverage

A Global Data Update (Americas/Europe)
Global Research Business Network (GRBN)
March 5, 2025
Recording

Thank you to Insights Association's U.S. colleagues and partners

We would like to thank all those who contributed to this project including colleagues from the insights & analytics community who participated in work sessions at the 2024 Samplecon, Insights Association’s Annual Conference, and Insights Association's Corporate Research Conference in 2024 as well as via an online qualitative research board.

 Council for Data Integrity: Data Quality Benchmarking Project volunteer team

2025 Leads: Andrew Hunt (The Link Group), Gene Saykin (Toluna) & Steve Snell (Rep Data)

Aaron Walton (Paradigm Sample), Alexandrine de Montera (Full Circle Research), Amanda McMahan (CMB), Brian Lamar (ROI Rocket), Emily Bosworth (Independent), Grzegorz Kowalski (SoftArchitect), Jerry Arbittier (AOPs), Ken Icklan (1Q), Kyle Morrison (Touchstone Research), Matt Ayers (Appinio), Mauricia Willis (Symmetric Sampling), Rich Ratcliff (Opinion Route), Vignesh Krishnan (Rep Data)

2024 volunteers: Alexandrine de Montera (Full Circle Research), Andrew Hunt (The Link Group), Gene Saykin (Toluna), Grzegorz Kowalski (SoftArchitect), Harshil Patel (Miix Analytics), Jamie Lussier (Travelers), Jerry Arbittier (AOPS), Ken Icklan (1Q), Kyle Morrison (Touchstone Research), Michael Brereton (Michigan State University), Prateek Rajput (Miix Analytics), Rich Ratcliff (Opinion Route), Steve Snell (Rep Data), Youssef Dakramanji (Michigan State University)

2024 Donated corporate services

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Data Quality Benchmarking Project?
Led by the Insights Association, the Global Data Quality (GDQ) Data Quality Benchmarking Project is a global industry-level research on research study on improving data quality. It seeks to define and track a set of standards or norms that can be used to assess data quality at both the industry and individual company levels.  With these norms, this initiative aims to contribute to the development of globally accepted data quality buying signals and fuel innovation. 

Results from the base wave can be downloaded at this link.

Watch the Insights Association webinar on the base wave results here and view the slides here.

What are the benefits of participating in the study? 
Contribute to the development of global data quality benchmarks that can be used to:

• Help shape an industry-wide quantitative standard that will elevate trust and accountability.
• Over additional waves, gain the ability to compare your company’s performance against the industry globally, by country, company type and category and pinpoint areas for improvement or innovation.
• Demonstrate your company’s commitment to upholding high data quality standards.
• Access to early insights on how the industry is performing and contribute to discussions on what the results mean. 

Who is eligible to participate in the tracking study? 
Any company involved in conducting survey research is welcome to participate. This includes brands, sample providers, research agencies, research platforms, quality technology companies, and digital data analytics firms. You do not need to be a member of one of the GDQ associations.

Participation is a requirement for companies that have signed the GDQ Data Quality Excellence Pledge, a commitment for organizations in the research, insights, and analytics industry to uphold the highest standards of data quality in every facet of their work. 

Is data collection limited to the United States?
No, not at all. Data quality is a universal issue, and we encourage global participation. The call for data will be rolled out internationally through the Global Data Quality (GDQ). In this first international call for data, we are requesting data from studies in the following countries only: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, South Africa, the UK and the US. This list will expand in future waves.

How often will the study be conducted?
We plan to conduct 2 waves of the study each year.

What is the methodology used in the study?
We apply a weighted average approach across core data quality metrics, represented countries and major survey types (such as B2B, B2C, Healthcare Providers). Data is collected from companies who provide a random sampling of anonymized records at the respondent level. The data will be weighted based on the relative size of the company defined as the total number of overall completes or studies in the calendar quarter being collected.

How should I pull the data?

• Only include completed and closed online survey projects from 1Q 2025 (January 1 to March 31, 2025).
• Include data from participants who completed and were removed.
• Submit a random sampling of a minimum of 10,000 to a maximum of 50,000 records. If you cannot meet this minimum, that is ok, provide what is feasible. If contributing data from more than one country, the maximum is 100,000 records.

Here's a short video that walks through how to upload your company's data into the data collection tool:

Are you collecting data from other research methodologies or just online surveys?
Currently we are only collecting data from online surveys. We will explore other research methodologies in the future.

What is the deadline?
The deadline has been extended to July 14th, 2025 (announced Monday, June 30th).

Will my company’s data remain anonymous?
Yes, absolutely. All submitted data collection files will be kept strictly confidential. While contact details for your company will be requested; it is only for communication purposes and only seen by employes of the Insights Association. Any company or personally identifiable data will be deleted and excluded from the reporting. The analysis team will only see an anonymous aggregated data set.

Who will handle the analysis?
The Insights Association will oversee a group of volunteers from its Council for Data Integrity. As mentioned above, this team will only see an anonymous aggregated data set and will be under NDA.

Is the data submission and storage site secure?
Yes, Insights Association uses Dropbox, a site that is is private and secure. You can upload your data file, but you will not be able to view files uploaded by others. Dropbox uses secure 256-bit AES and SSL/TLS encryption technology to protect files during data transfer, and the site is GDPR and HIPAA compliant. Learn more at this link.

Can I reuse data from a previous submission?
No, each round of the tracking study focuses on a specific data time range, so please provide data for the designated period.

Who can I contact if there are questions?
Research@InsightsAssociation.org 
Alternatively, reach out to your contact at your Global Data Quality association. 

How can I stay informed about future data collection periods?
Monitor your GDQ association’s website and communications.

Insights Association U.S. Company Participants: Base Wave 

Insights Association thanks these companies for demonstrating their commitment to improving data quality standards and contributing data from their 2Q 2024 projects. Updated May 7, 2025.