Peruse the history of survey research and the essential conceptsfor data quality. With an emphasis on total survey error, theauthors review principles and concepts in the field and examineimportant unresolved issues in survey methods. Spanning a range oftopics dealing with the quality of data collected through thesurvey process, they focus on such key issues as:
* Major sources of survey error, examining the origins of eacherror source most successful methods for reducing errors from thosesources
* Methods most often used in practice for evaluating the effectsof the source on total survey error
* Implications of improving survey quality for organizationalmanagement and costs

"...a very nice place to begin for anyone who might have an interest in the quality of surveys." (Technometrics, Vol. 45, No. 3, August 2003)

PAUL P. BIEMER, PhD, is a distinguished Fellow at RTIInternational, and Assistant Director for Survey Research at theOdum Institute for Research in Social Science at the University ofNorth Carolina at Chapel Hill.

LARS E. LYBERG, PhD, is Chief Scientist at StatisticsSweden. They both have co-edited, with others, Measurement Errorsin Surveys, Survey Measurement and Process Quality, and TelephoneSurvey Methodology (all published by Wiley).