Online Program

Have It Your Way: Managing Data and Business Preferences in a Multimode Collection

Keywords: mixed mode, web collection, jails, prisons

Access to computing resources and the adoption of new technologies vary greatly among U.S. prisons and jails. Some jail administrators continue to maintain records on paper with complex filing systems. Others have moved to computer-based jail management systems. This diversity in jail record management, along with a desire to minimize respondent burden, has necessitated allowing multiple modes (and iterations) of data submission on the Deaths in Custody Reporting Program (DCRP), including paper (mail), FAX, web, telephone, and bulk file submissions generated by in house management programs. The presentation will cover the various methods used in the DCRP data collection to allow jails and prisons to report data in a manner that best fits their operations. It will also analyze the distribution of the self selected submission mode relative to agency characteristics, timeliness of reporting, and the quality of the data submitted.