Reducing Quality Variation Across Countries in an International Survey

• Activity Number: 654
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Thursday, August 7, 2014 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
• Sponsor: Survey Research Methods Section
• Author(s): Laura Alvarez-Rojas*+ and Thomas Krenzke and Leyla Mohadjer
• Companies: Westat and Westat and Westat
• Keywords: sample design ; sample selection and monitoring ; weighting

Abstract

Technical standards and guidelines (TSGs) were written for participating countries to follow in the first round of the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). A challenge was to reduce the quality variation across the 24 countries involved, while ensuring that the TSGs were adhered to. This became complex since countries were given options to choose their sample design, and to conduct weighting. The sample designs differed in several ways, including the number of selection stages, and the use of a population registry or not. Quality control (QC) forms and files standardized and facilitated the process, prior to, during and after data collection. This presentation gives examples of the QC forms that were implemented, the QC files that were requested, and examples of problems that were caught. Results of this work were considered when making a decision to publish countries' data in an international report.