Data quality has never been more important—or more challenging.
As survey fraud, bots, AI-generated responses, and disengaged participants continue to impact research outcomes, organizations need solutions that go beyond traditional quality checks. That’s why Dynata has brought together the best of Imperium Solutions’ technology,including Real Answer®, within QualityScore, Dynata’s comprehensive AI- and machine learning-powered data quality solution.
The technology behind QualityScore
Originally developed by Imperium Solutions, now owned by Dynata, Real Answer was designed to evaluate the quality and authenticity of open-ended survey responses in real time. The solution analyzes verbatim responses and identifies signals associated with fraud, disengagement, and low-quality participation.
Today, those capabilities are fully integrated into QualityScore, allowing clients to retain the benefits of Real Answer while gaining access to a broader, more advanced data quality framework. Internal Dynata documentation states that Real Answer functionality is incorporated within QualityScore alongside additional quality technologies acquired from Imperium.
Why open-ended responses matter
Open-ended questions often contain the richest insights in a survey. They reveal motivations, context, and sentiment that cannot be captured through closed-ended questions alone.
The challenge is that open-ended responses are also a frequent target for fraudulent behavior. Researchers routinely encounter:
- Gibberish responses
- Copy-and-paste answers
- Repeated content
- Profanity and inappropriate language
- Automated or bot-generated text
- Low-engagement responses designed to complete surveys quickly
Real Answer was developed specifically to address these challenges by evaluating response quality as surveys are completed rather than waiting until data cleaning begins.
How Real Answer strengthens QualityScore
The core capabilities developed by Imperium continue to play an important role within QualityScore.
Real Answer technology evaluates open-ended responses for indicators such as:
- Invalid or nonsensical text
- Profanity and inappropriate language
- Duplicate or highly similar responses
- Copy-and-paste behavior
- Evidence of automated submissions
- Overall respondent engagement
By incorporating these signals into the broader QualityScore framework, Dynata helps researchers identify potentially problematic respondents while fieldwork is still in progress.
Built for today’s data quality challenges
What makes QualityScore different is its ability to combine Real Answer’s open-ended response analysis with a much broader view of respondent quality.
According to Dynata materials, QualityScore evaluates fraudulent and disengaged respondent behavior using more than 175 data points and provides automated scoring and replacement capabilities across global research programs.
This multilayered approach is increasingly critical as AI-generated content and sophisticated fraud techniques become more common. Rather than relying on a single signal, researchers can assess respondent quality across multiple dimensions and make more informed decisions about the data they collect.
Continuing the Imperium legacy
Imperium Solutions established itself as a trusted innovator in respondent validation and survey fraud detection. Real Answer became one of the industry’s most recognized tools for analyzing open-ended responses and identifying low-quality participants.
Today, that innovation lives on within QualityScore. By integrating Real Answer’s proven capabilities into a broader AI-driven framework, Dynata has expanded the value delivered to clients while helping organizations stay ahead of emerging quality threat.
The result is a more comprehensive solution that allows researchers to spend less time cleaning data and more time generating insights, with confidence that their decisions are built on a foundation of high-quality, research-grade responses.
For organizations that depend on trustworthy insights, QualityScore represents the next evolution of data quality—combining the proven strengths of Real Answer with Dynata’s ongoing investment in AI, machine learning, and respondent verification technology.
