ENSURING QUALITY IN SURVEY RESEARCH

Abstract

This descripto-analytical paper on ensuring quality in survey research discusses the management of errors in administering survey. This paper aims to help the social science researchers to ensure the quality in the process and outcomes of survey research. It begins with the brief conceptual underpinnings of survey research, discusses about reliability and validity tests in survey, elaborates the notion of total survey error approach, and suggests some measures on handling survey errors. Given the wider applications and substantial costs associated with survey research, the issues of sampling and non-sampling errors have always been major concerns in the quality of survey research. Survey research can be instrumental in generating knowledge provided survey errors are handled properly. Though a variety of measures are in practices to ensure quality of survey data, this paper gives importance on total survey approach that gives emphasis on total quality management in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data. Dealing survey data from the perspective of total survey approach would yield fruitful results from survey research.