Ask Africa Orange Index 2026 achieves 96.7 decision grade trust score

The certification provides a measurable indication of the integrity of the data behind the Ask Africa Orange Index™, which businesses use to understand customer experience performance, benchmark themselves against competitors and identify where customer expectations are changing.

The overall trust score incorporates multiple dimensions of research quality. The 2026 dataset achieved a score of 91.3 for face-to-face data collection integrity, 97.5 for online data collection integrity, 100 for response quality and 100 for analytical reliability.

For Ask Africa, the importance of these measures extends beyond research methodology. Customer experience intelligence can influence strategic priorities, investment decisions and the way leadership teams understand their competitive position. The quality of those decisions therefore depends on the quality of the evidence behind them.

“Businesses should be able to take research into a boardroom knowing exactly what has been done to protect the integrity of the data,” says Dr Sarina Howie, chief data and analytics officer at Ask Africa. “Quality cannot simply be something a research company claims. It needs to be tested, measured and demonstrated. The 96.7 Trust Score provides our clients with another level of transparency around the intelligence they are using to make decisions.”

The 2026 Ask Africa Orange Index™ used a mixed-methodology approach combining online panel interviews with Ask Africa’s face-to-face interviews, conducted as part of the broader TGI 2026A fieldwork. Each methodology is subject to dedicated Quality Assurance processes designed around its particular risks.

Online interviews are protected through layered digital controls including completion-time validation, response-quality review, Captcha screening, single-IP validation and automated data science integrity checks. Ask Africa also applies controls designed to identify bot activity, inattentive responses, straight-lining and other behaviours that could compromise the reliability of the dataset.

Face-to-face interviews underwent operational quality assurance reviews, covert recording verification, geo-validation and staged data science validation. Interview locations were verified and completed interviews screened for risks including clustering, duplicate respondents, fake GPS activity and other indicators of non-compliant fieldwork. The process is deliberately designed to remove data that does not meet Ask Africa’s required standard.

During the 2026 research process,over 2,000 online responses identified as speedsters were removed, alongside a further batch of poor-quality online responses. Within the broader face-to-face quality assurance process supporting the study, non-compliant interviews were also identified and removed before client delivery. This willingness to exclude questionable responses is an important part of Ask Africa’s approach to data integrity.

“A large dataset has very little value if the quality of the responses cannot be trusted,” says Howie. “Our responsibility is not to protect the size of the sample at all costs. It is to protect the integrity of the final intelligence. That means being prepared to interrogate the data continuously and remove interviews that do not meet our standards.”

Data science validation was conducted throughout the research lifecycle rather than being applied only once fieldwork was complete. Online data was continuously assessed, while face-to-face validation took place at key fieldwork milestones, including pilot, 25%, 50%, 75% and final stages.

The research was also conducted against a challenging fieldwork environment. Severe weather, flooding, damaged roads, community demonstrations and access restrictions affected several provinces during the collection period. Ask Africa responded through route planning, flexible scheduling, GPS monitoring and safety protocols designed to protect both interviewers and the geographic integrity of the sample.

The resulting Decision Grade certification confirms that the final Ask Africa Orange Index™ dataset met Ask Africa’s standards for data integrity, response quality and analytical reliability before results were released. For Ask Africa, this level of transparency is increasingly important as businesses become more dependent on data to guide strategic decisions.

“The conversation around data is changing,” says Howie. “Access to more information does not automatically mean access to better intelligence. The real question is whether the data can withstand scrutiny. That is the standard we believe businesses should expect from the research they rely on.”

The 2026 Quality Assurance and Data Integrity Report forms part of Ask Africa’s commitment to making the processes behind the Ask Africa Orange Index™ visible, measurable and accountable.

About Ask Africa

Established in 1995, Ask Africa is a leading African data intelligence company, revealing the unseen behind Africa’s lived realities. By integrating global standards of excellence with hyperlocal knowledge of African communities, multi-sector expertise and methodological rigour, Ask Africa is trusted to deliver within diverse settings across 38+ markets.

Guided by their values, Ask Africa partners with organisations to support better, evidence-led decision-making.

Belief in the Power of Africa drives local leadership and opportunity; transformative relationships prioritise respectful partnerships with communities and clients; Science Driving Prosperity commits rigorous methods and evidence for sustainable outcomes; Progressive Dialogue fosters inclusive conversations that inform both policy and practice. With careful attention to contextual relevance and real impact.

Through long-standing datasets of 25+ years, and research products including the Ask Africa Orange Index™, Ask Africa helps organisations understand evolving customers, markets and competitive performance to support better strategic decision-making.
Built in Africa, For Africa.

For more information, visit www.askafrica.co.za.