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Preparing Your Data

To ensure smooth processing and the best possible results, please follow these guidelines before importing data.

Supported Formats

Supported upload files:
  • CSV
  • Excel
ReDem also recognizes exports from common survey platforms and prepares them automatically during upload:
  • Decipher
  • AYTM
  • Confirmit
  • Quantilope
Upload the original export file from your platform — no separate conversion step is required. ReDem detects the format, maps sheets and metadata, and continues with the normal Quick Import flow. See Supported Survey Tools below for platform-specific export steps.

Row and column limits

Each upload file may contain at most 5,000 rows and at most 5,000 columns. If your file exceeds either limit, you need to split or trim the data before you can import it. If the file has too many columns, ReDem will ask you to reduce the file to 5,000 columns maximum (for example by removing variables you do not need for the import) before you can continue. The row limit applies to the full sheet you import (including header rows, question-text rows, and respondent rows). If you need more than 5,000 respondents in one survey, upload a file that fits within the limit first, then add further respondents afterward. See Updating Imported Data for how to append new interviews after the initial upload.

Required Formatting for Quality Checks

If you want to use content-based Quality Checks (Coherence Score or Open-Ended Score), your uploaded file must include both questions and answers in a clearly labeled format. You can structure your file in two ways:

a) Single-Sheet Files

If all data is stored in one sheet, ensure that each column contains:
  • A unique variable identifier (e.g., Q1A1_1)
  • The full question text (e.g., “Please indicate how often you usually eat the following types of food. Think about a normal week. / Red meat (e.g., beef, pork)”)
  • The labeled answer (e.g., “rarely”)
Recommended structure:
  • Row 1 - Header row: Unique variable identifiers
  • Row 2 - Question text row: Full question text for each variable
  • Row 3 onward - Respondent data: One row per respondent, with responses in plain text
It is also acceptable if the question text is embedded directly in the header row after the unique variable identifier (e.g., Q1A1_1: Please indicate how often you usually eat the following types of food. Think about a normal week. / Red meat (e.g., beef, pork)).

b) Two-Sheet Files

If you use separate sheets: Sheet 1 (Data):
  • Row 1: Unique variable identifiers
  • Row 2 onward: Coded answers of the interview
Sheet 2 (Codebook): Must include:
  • The mapping between variable identifiers and their full question text
  • The labeled answer options for each question and its variable identifier
Do not include additional information in the codebook (e.g., filter paths, metadata descriptions), as this may interfere with processing.
Sample File Format Once your file is prepared, you can proceed with the import process either manually or with AI assistance.

Quick Import

Follow these steps for a quick import:
1

Upload File

Navigate to Quick Import and select the file from your computer. If you want to reuse the configuration from a previous tracking survey, activate Reuse settings from existing survey, select the reference survey, and click Use Template Settings. Otherwise choose “Select Manually” if you want to manually select which questions will be included in the quality check. If your Excel file contains multiple sheets, select which sheet contains the data and which sheet contains the data map.
2

Provide Metadata

  • Assign a survey name.
  • Confirm the correct Header Row (usually row 1), Question Text Row (usually row 2), and Respondent Start Row (usually row 3).
  • If your dataset uses codes for missing values, enter them.
  • Save your settings.
3

Choose the Identification Column

Select the column that uniquely identifies each respondent (e.g., Respondent ID).
4

Select Quality Checks and Questions

  • Add a New Quality Check: For example, choose Open-Ended Score.
  • Choose Data Points: Select the relevant open-ended question.
  • Determine Settings: Add the question text, enrich it with keywords if needed, specify the allowed languages (leave empty to allow all languages), and activate or deactivate the duplication check.
    • Recommendation: Activate the duplicate check only if identical or highly similar responses to open-ends among and within the interviews are implausible.
  • Add Additional Open-Ended Questions: Repeat as necessary, then confirm.
  • Configure Other Quality Checks:
    • Grid Questions Score: Assign a name to the data point, then select the first and last columns of the grid (minimum of 5 columns required). If the grid is not randomized and contains at least 7 items, enable the Pattern Check to identify fraudulent click patterns beyond simple straightlining.
    • Coherence Score: Select all questions you want evaluated for coherence.
    • Time Score: Select the variables that capture response time and/or interview length (in seconds or milliseconds).
5

Determine Cleaning Settings

Decide whether to enable ReDem’s Automatic Data Cleaning. This feature applies exclusion recommendations based on predefined thresholds.
  • If Enabled: You can further customize the cleaning settings to suit your project.
  • If Disabled: You will still receive the selected quality scores, but no exclusion recommendations will be applied.
For a detailed explanation of ReDem’s cleaning process, refer to How to Clean Data with ReDemRecommended Settings We recommend using ReDem’s recommended cleaning settings for optimal data quality which means to exclude an interview if:
  • ReDem Score is below 60 OR
  • Two or more open-ended questions have an Open-Ended Score below 40 OR
  • Two or more answers to open-ended questions are classified as:
    • AI-Generated OR
    • Gibberish OR
    • Off Topic OR
    • Wrong Language OR
    • Bad Language OR
  • Coherence Score is below 30 OR
  • Two or more grid questions have a Grid-Question Score below 20 OR
  • Time Score is below 30.
6

Review and Confirm

After configuring your quality checks and cleaning settings, you will see a summary of the selected questions and checks.
  • Review your selections carefully.
  • Adjust any mistakes before proceeding.
  • Check how many credits your chosen checks will consume.
Once everything is correct, approve and upload your data to complete the process.

AI Assisted Upload

1

Upload File

Navigate to Import Data and select the file from your computer. If you want to reuse the configuration from a previous tracking survey, activate Reuse settings from existing survey, select the reference survey, and click Use Template Settings. Otherwise choose “Analyze with AI”. If your Excel file contains multiple sheets, select which sheet contains the data and which sheet contains the data map. Please note that this method may take additional time, as the system will analyze your file, identify the relevant questions for each quality check type, and extract the necessary metadata. Larger files will require more time to process. During this process, you can freely navigate to other pages or even close the application.
2

Check and confirm the metadata

Check and confirm the extracted metadata for your survey. You can edit each item if needed.
3

Choose the Identification Column

Select the column that uniquely identifies each respondent (e.g., Respondent ID).
4

Review AI-Recommended Quality Checks

The AI’s suggestions can require refinement. Manually review each quality score, adjust as needed, and confirm your selections.Open-Ended Score (OES)
  • Add keywords (optional), define allowed languages (recommended), and enable or disable the duplicate check.
  • Remove any open-ended questions you do not want scored with ReDem’s Open-End Score.
  • Confirm your choices.
Grid-Questions Score (GQS)
  • The AI identifies grid questions with 5 or more items.
  • If any should be excluded - for example, where response patterns like straightlining are acceptable - remove them using the delete icon.
  • Confirm your selections.
Coherence Score (CHS)
  • Displays which questions are included in the check.
  • Ideally, include all questions where possible.
  • Select or deselect questions as needed, then confirm.
Time Score (TS)
  • AI suggests the variables that capture response time and/or interview length.
  • Select or deselect response times/interview length as needed, then confirm.
5

Determine Cleaning Settings

Decide whether to enable ReDem’s Automatic Data Cleaning. This feature applies exclusion recommendations based on predefined thresholds.
  • If Enabled: You can further customize the cleaning settings to suit your project.
  • If Disabled: You will still receive the selected quality scores, but no exclusion recommendations will be applied.
For a detailed explanation of ReDem’s cleaning process, refer to How to Clean Data with ReDemRecommended Settings We recommend using ReDem’s recommended cleaning settings for optimal data quality which means to exclude an interview if:
  • ReDem Score is below 60 OR
  • Two or more open-ended questions have an Open-Ended Score below 40 OR
  • Two or more answers to open-ended questions are classified as:
    • AI-Generated OR
    • Gibberish OR
    • Off Topic OR
    • Wrong Language OR
    • Bad Language OR
  • Coherence Score is below 30 OR
  • Two or more grid questions have a Grid-Question Score below 20 OR
  • Time Score is below 30.
6

Review and Confirm

After configuring your quality checks and cleaning settings, you will see a summary of the selected questions and checks.
  • Review your selections carefully.
  • Adjust any mistakes before proceeding.
  • Check how many credits your chosen checks will consume.
Once everything is correct, approve and upload your data to complete the process.

Updating Imported Data

Use this flow to add new interviews to an existing import without reprocessing previously uploaded records.
1

Select your survey

In the Surveys section, open the data file you want to update.
2

Add data records

Click the green ”+ Add Data Records” button in the top-left to open the Upload Data File screen again.
3

Upload the updated file

Choose the file that contains additional interviews from the same survey and click “Proceed to Review”. You may upload all interviews (previous + new) or only the new interviews. Existing interviews are automatically detected and skipped; only new interviews are uploaded.If you upload only the new interviews, you will not be able to use Change Quality Check Settings on that survey later, because ReDem no longer has a single file with the full respondent set. Uploading previous + new interviews keeps that option available.
4

Check key settings

  • Verify the Survey Metadata is correct.
  • Review the Respondent ID to ensure proper matching.
  • Confirm the Quality Checks are set as intended.
5

Review summary

Before confirming, a summary will show how many new interviews will be added and the associated credit cost. Only new interviews consume credits.
6

Confirm the update

Approve to update your survey with the new interviews.

Copy Survey with Settings

If you import recurring or tracking surveys, the fastest option is to reuse the setup from a previous survey.
1

Upload the new tracking file

Navigate to Import Data and upload the new CSV or Excel file.
2

Reuse an existing setup

After the file upload, activate Reuse settings from existing survey and select the previous survey you want to use as reference.
3

Apply the reference survey

Click Use Template Settings. ReDem will carry over the reference survey’s metadata, respondent ID and attributes, quality checks, and cleaning settings into the new import.
4

Review and adjust

Continue through the import flow as usual. You can add to or change the imported settings throughout the remaining steps before you confirm the upload.

Edit and Reapply Cleaning Settings

After you have cleaned a file, you can adjust and reapply your cleaning settings at any time.
1

Open Cleaning Settings

On your survey results page, click the “Cleaning Settings” button at the top.
2

Adjust settings

Modify the cleaning parameters as desired.
3

Reapply cleaning

Click “Apply Cleaning” to recalculate your results using the updated settings.

Change Quality Check Settings

After a Quick Import survey has finished processing, you can change which questions are included in your quality checks and update check-specific settings (for example, keywords, languages, or duplicate detection for Open-Ended Score). ReDem recalculates all existing respondents using the updated configuration. This is separate from Edit and Reapply Cleaning Settings: quality check settings control which data is scored and how; cleaning settings control exclusion thresholds on scores you already have.
Change Quality Checks is available only for Quick Import surveys (file upload), not for live API-connected surveys. The button appears on the survey results page when your project is eligible. It is hidden for older surveys created before this feature was available, while the survey is still processing, and when the import file no longer contains the full respondent set (see below).

What you can change

You can add, remove, or edit settings for the same quality checks available during import:
  • Open-Ended Score (OES)
  • Coherence Score (CHS)
  • Grid-Question Score (GQS)
  • Time Score (TS)
The editor uses the same question-selection workflow as the import flow. For details on configuring each check, see Select Quality Checks and Questions in the manual upload steps above.
Appending interviews with Add New Data Records does not disable Change Quality Checks by itself. The feature is disabled only if the file used for that update does not include every respondent already in the survey (for example, when you upload only the new interviews). If you upload a file that contains all previous and new interviews, you can still change quality check settings afterward. To change quality checks after a partial append, create a new import or re-upload using the full respondent set.

Credits

Changing quality checks may consume additional credits. On the Summary step, ReDem shows a maximum credit estimate for the settings you changed across all respondents. You are charged only for added or edited datapoints on respondents that are recalculated successfully; removing datapoints does not refund credits. Turning duplicate detection on or off for an existing open-ended question without other processing changes does not add credits. If your account does not have enough credits for the estimated maximum, you cannot apply the changes until you add credits. See ReDem Credits for how credits are calculated.
1

Open Quality Checks

On your survey results page, click Quality Checks at the top (next to Cleaning Settings).If the survey is still processing, ReDem shows a message and blocks editing until processing finishes.
2

Edit quality checks

On the Quality Check step, adjust your checks the same way as during import: add or remove checks, change which columns or questions are included, and update check-specific options. Confirm each quality check panel before continuing.Use Back to Survey if you want to cancel without saving.
3

Review the summary

On the Summary step, review how many datapoints changed per quality check (added, removed, or net change) and the maximum credit requirement for all respondents. Click Apply Changes when you are ready.
4

Confirm and apply

ReDem verifies your credit balance, then asks you to confirm. Click Confirm & Apply to save the new settings and start recalculation for every respondent in the survey.
5

Wait for recalculation

You return to the survey results page while ReDem processes respondents. A progress view shows how many respondents remain. You can leave the page and come back; processing continues in the background.When recalculation finishes, scores, charts, and the respondent table reflect the updated quality check settings.

Failed respondent updates

If ReDem cannot update a respondent after several automatic retries, that row is highlighted yellow in the respondent table. Those interviews still reflect the previous quality check settings and scores. Contact support@redem.io if you need help with failed rows.

Supported Survey Tools

ReDem recognizes exports from the platforms below. Upload the original file from your survey tool; ReDem detects the format and prepares it for import.

Decipher

Export your survey from Decipher as Excel, then upload that file to Quick Import.
1

Open the export menu

Open your survey in Decipher, then click Overview -> Data Downloads -> Excel.Decipher path to the Excel export
2

Wait for the export to finish

Decipher opens a status page while it prepares the export.Decipher export processing screen
3

Upload the file

Open the downloaded ZIP file and upload the Excel file inside it to ReDem. ReDem detects the Decipher format automatically and selects the correct data and label sheets when possible.

AYTM

Export your survey data from AYTM and upload the Excel file directly to Quick Import. ReDem detects the AYTM format and prepares the file for the import steps that follow.

Confirmit

Export your survey from Confirmit and upload the Excel file directly to Quick Import. ReDem detects the Confirmit format, maps the data and datamap sheets, and continues with the normal import flow.

Quantilope

Export your survey from Quantilope and upload the Excel file directly to Quick Import. ReDem detects the Quantilope format and prepares the codebook and data sheets automatically.