Measurement and Assessment of Survey Quality: the Development of a Holistic and Quantitative Tool

Most of the guidelines and methods available to measure and assess survey quality are based on qualitative descriptions. In practice, they are difficult to implement. Hence there is a demand to develop a quantitative tool to effectively measure and assess survey quality. The tool developed in this book enables survey researchers and/or commissioners to make a holistic assessment of the value of the particular survey(s). It is an Excel based audit following all stages of the survey from inception, to design, construction, execution, analysis and dissemination. At each stage a set of criteria are applied to assess quality. Scores attained against these assessments are weighted by the importance of the criteria and summed to give an overall assessment of the stage. The total score for a survey can be obtained by the combination of the scores for every stage weighted again by the importance of each stage. The advantage of this tool is to construct a means of survey assessment which can be used in a diagnostic manner to evaluate and improve survey quality. The target audience of this book may comprise students, scholars, practitioners and researchers.