Glaut vs. Surveys

Which research tool gets you closer to your research goals?

Surveys provide the numbers. Glaut AIMIs bring the stories. Together, they give researchers a complete picture of people’s experiences, motivations and reasoning.

Traditional survey
Glaut AIMI
Traditional survey
Glaut logo
This marks the shift from static data capture to dynamic dialogue. Surveys reduce human experience to checkboxes, while AIMIs open up context, nuance, and meaning through conversation.

Glaut AIMIs vs. Surveys at a glance

Glaut logo
Surveys
Depth of Insight
Deep narratives, multi-turn probing, and voice tone captured
Mostly closed-ended; usually open-ended in surveys get no/gibberish answers
Moderator quality
Consistent, tireless; no drift across sessions
No moderator; responses are either self-completed (online/mail) or interviewer-administered (phone/face-to-face).
Scale & Speed
Parallel interviews (hundreds/thousands) 24/7; results in hours
Fast at scale, but limited to scripted Q&A
Data Quality & Fraud prevention
Real-time uncooperative detection, voice-only mode, and response consistency checks
Basic quality controls via question design and post-hoc data cleaning
Analysis time
AI agents to analyze multi-layer levels of depth and insight templates (sentiment, thematic, etc.). Charts, crosstabs, TOM, and trends visualization included
Numeric analysis is quick, with charts and crosstabs; open-ends require manual coding.
Participant comfort
Private, flexible voice or text inputs; asynchronous
Clicking, scrolling, only text option
Engagement
High engagement due to personalized conversations
Engagement often low; survey fatigue
Human role
Researchers design, supervise, interpret
Researchers design, distribute, interpret
Scale & Speed
Parallel interviews (hundreds/thousands) 24/7; results in hours
Fast at scale, but limited to scripted Q&A
Cost efficiency
Lower cost per depth at scale
Lower cost per respondent; higher cost to code open-ends
When it shines
Depth + breadth; interviewing hard-to-reach targets; global, rapid iteration; trackers needing qualitative insights and % metrics
Measuring prevalence; quick polls; trackers needing % metrics

When to use each

Choose surveys for

Purely numeric measures (%s, averages, incidence)
Simple, structured closed questions
Longitudinal tracking over time
Benchmarking against industry norms
Choose Glaut AIMIs for
Engaging qualitative depth at scale
Built-in fraud prevention
Fast turnaround from brief to insights
Access to hard-to-reach audiences

Glaut AIMIs include all the features and value of surveys.
Researchers can design projects with select, or rating, then enrich them with targeted open-ended follow-ups for deeper context.
On Glaut, you can also build crosstabs directly, bringing quantitative structure and qualitative depth together in one place.

When to use together

You don't need to disrupt your research stack, just embed AIMIs. With a simple iframe (copy-paste), Glaut fits directly inside your existing surveys, so respondents stay in flow and you keep full context.

Plug into Qualtrics, Alchemer, or any legacy quant platform
Avoid redirects and drop-offs : respondents never leave your survey
Preserve structure and continuity while collecting richer, contextual qual data
Enrich trackers with Agile Quantifiable Qual (AQQ) to capture the “why” behind KPIs
Embed glaut AIMI into a survey

A first comparative study

In early 2024, we ran our first comparative study: "Enhancing Qualitative Market Research with Conversational AI-agents: Comparative Study of AI-Moderated Interviews (aka “AIMIs”) and Traditional Static Surveys".

The aim was to test whether an AI-moderated interviewer could capture richer, more insightful qualitative data than traditional web-based surveys.

+129% avg. words per response with AIMIs vs. surveys
-53.6% gibberish interactions using AIMI
+94.1% performance gain: AIMIs rated higher in quality in 66% of cases.
+56.4% higher completion rate with AIMIs (61%) vs. static surveys (38%).
Comparative study AIMI vs. Surveys
Faq

Get answers to the most commonly asked questions

Do I need to replace surveys with Glaut AIMIs?

Not at all. Surveys and AIMIs work best in combination. Surveys give you the numbers, AIMIs uncover the reasons behind them. Many researchers embed AIMIs into surveys or run them side by side for a fuller evidence base.

Can Glaut handle closed questions like a survey?

Yes. On Glaut, you can build projects with select or rating questions only, and still add smart open-ended follow-ups wherever you want more depth. This means you can run survey-style projects without leaving the platform.

How do AIMIs improve data quality compared to surveys?

AI moderation reduces gibberish, straight-lining, and copy-paste responses. In validated studies, AIMIs produced 129% more words per answer, cut gibberish by 53.6%, and achieved 56% higher completion rates than traditional surveys.

We answer all your questions here
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