ESRA 2027 sessions by theme

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Session Details

This session focuses on quality governance in survey design, fieldwork preparation and data generation processes. Beyond output quality itself, we are interested in the organizational arrangements, responsibilities, standards, monitoring mechanisms, and decision-making structures through which survey quality is defined, maintained, evaluated, and continuously improved. Following the principles of Total Survey Quality (1) and Survey Quality Management (2), we invite contributions that examine how quality governance is embedded in survey infrastructures and data production environments.
Possible questions to guide presentations include:
• Which governance structures, procedures, and quality measures are implemented to assess whether the objectives of a process or product are achieved? For example, if high-quality translation is a goal, how is quality defined, monitored, and evaluated and which indicators are used to assess whether quality targets have been met?
• How are quality standards, guidelines and requirements established, and who is responsible for ensuring their implementation in survey preparation processes and process documentation?
• Which metadata and paradata on data generation processes are provided to data users? How are user needs, feedback, and quality expectations collected and incorporated into quality management and governance processes?
• Which standards and guidelines are in place to ensure the quality of survey preparation processes and their documentation?
• How are quality risks, deviations from standards, and quality-related decisions managed during survey preparation and data collection?
• How is the principle of continuous improvement, and how are lessons learned translated into organizational practice and future survey cycles?
• Which roles, responsibilities, committees, review procedures, or other governance mechanisms support quality governance during the survey preparation phase?
• How is quality governance organized across product quality, process quality, and organizational quality dimensions, and how do these dimensions interact within survey infrastructures?

1: https://doi.org/10.4135/9781473957893.n3
2: https://ccsg.isr.umich.edu/chapters/survey-quality