The Link Group advances quality assurance program through partnership with Data Quality Co-op
Collaboration supports TLG’s investment in a best-in-class quality approach and its commitment to improving data quality across the research industry
SALT LAKE CITY and DURHAM — October 27, 2026 — The Link Group (TLG), a research consultancy bringing together deep research and a custom approach to every business challenge, and Data Quality Co-op (DQC), the industry's first independent data quality clearinghouse, today announced a partnership to strengthen TLG’s research quality program..
TLG is expanding its quality assurance approach, protecting the research it delivers to clients and keeping pace with increasingly sophisticated fraud to ensure clients can drive decisions confidently and deliver lasting impact. The company selected DQC to add a unique and incremental layer of intelligence to its existing quality processes, helping identify fraudulent participation that previously required extensive manual review or could go undetected.
Andrew Hunt, Vice President at The Link Group said, “Today’s sample landscape demands a layered approach to data quality, and DQC gives us a level of visibility into our respondents that wasn’t possible before. Adding their fraud detection technology and participation history to our cleaning process helps us catch bad actors with greater confidence, and sharing that information back with DQC makes it easier for us and others across the industry to identify high- and low-quality respondents in future surveys.”
DQC allows TLG to use respondents’ prior participation and quality history as an additional signal when evaluating new survey participants. This helps TLG identify potential fraud earlier in the research process, keep previously identified bad actors from returning to future studies and reduce the time research managers spend manually reviewing responses.
TLG also wanted to help beyond its own studies. By contributing respondent quality signals back to DQC, it adds to what the industry collectively knows about respondent behavior and helps other organizations identify fraud that can be difficult to detect within a single study.
“TLG has put a lot of thought and effort into how they manage quality, and they’re continuing to raise the bar,” said Bob Fawson, CEO of Data Quality Co-op. “They’re using DQC to strengthen their own quality program while contributing data that helps us build a better view of respondent quality across the industry.”
About The Link Group
The Link Group is a full-service market research consultancy that has helped insights leaders navigate business complexity and turn insights into influence for over 30 years. Whether the work is qualitative, quantitative, or ethnographic, Fortune 500 companies rely on The Link Group to choose the right approach for the business challenge. The team’s experience spans industries and regions around the world. For more information, visit TLG.com.
About Data Quality Co-op
Data Quality Co-op (DQC) is an independent first-party data quality clearinghouse. We transform how buyers and suppliers of first-party data measure, understand and manage the quality of their data. Our platform offers continuous quality measurement and real-time quality certification by aggregating, analyzing and benchmarking data quality signals across the ecosystem and the Data Trust Score™, delivering unique, predictive quality intelligence. Together with our clients, we are shaping the future of fast, reliable data-driven insights. Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, our mission is to ensure each business decision, marketing campaign or AI model is driven by data that's high-quality, high-value and perfectly suited for its purpose. For more information, visit www.dataqualityco-op.com.