The document discusses non-sampling errors in survey data collection, outlining intentional and unintentional errors committed by fieldworkers and respondents. It highlights the various types of errors and their potential causes, as well as methods to control and mitigate these errors through supervision, questionnaire design, and clear instructions. Additionally, it emphasizes the impact of fatigue, misunderstanding, and distractions on data quality during the data collection process.

1. FIELD DATA COLLECTION
QUALITY CONTROLS

2. Non sampling Error
• Non sampling error consists of all errors in a survey except those due
to the sample plan and sample size.
• Non sampling error includes
(1) all types of nonresponse error,
(2) data-gathering errors,
(3) data-handling errors,
(4) data analysis errors, and
(5) interpretation errors

3. Data Collection Error
• Data collection is the phase of the marketing research process during
which respondents provide their answers or information in response
to inquiries posed by the researcher.

4. Possible Errors in Field Data Collection
• Fieldworker error are errors committed by the individuals who
administer questionnaires, typically interviewers.
• Respondent error consists of errors on the part of the respondent.
Some data collection methods have greater potential for respondent
error than others.

5. 2 classes of errors
• Intentional errors, or errors that are committed deliberately.
• Unintentional errors, or errors that occur without willful intent.

6. • Interviewer cheating occurs when the interviewer
intentionally misrepresents respondents. The cause is often
found in the compensation system.
• Leading the respondent, or attempting to influence the
respondent’s answers through wording, voice inflection, or
body language.
For instance, consider the question: “Is conserving electricity a
concern for you?” An interviewer can influence the respondent by
changing the question to “Isn’t conserving electricity a concern for
you?”

7. • Subtle leading occurs in interviewers’ cues. In personal interviews, for
instance, interviewers might ever so slightly shake their heads “no” to
questions they disagree with, and nod “yes” to those they agree with,
while posing the question.
• Over the telephone, interviewers might give verbal cues such as
“unhuh” to responses they disagree with or “okay” to responses they
agree with, and this continued reaction pattern may subtly influence
respon- dents’ answers.

8. • An unintentional interviewer error occurs whenever an interviewer
commits an error while believing that he or she is performing correctly.
• Unintentional interviewer error is found in the interviewer’s personal
characteristics such as accent, sex, and demeanor. It has been shown
that under some circumstances, the interviewer’s voice, speech, gender
or lack of experience can be a source of bias.
• Interviewer misunderstanding occurs when an interviewer believes he
or she knows how to administer a survey but instead does it incorrectly.

9. • The third type of unintentional interviewer error involves fatigue-
related mistakes, which can occur when an interviewer becomes
tired. You may be surprised that fatigue can enter into asking
questions and recording answers, because these tasks are not
physically demanding, but interviewing is labor-intensive and can
become tedious and monotonous.

10. • Intentional respondent errors occur when respondents willfully
misrepresent themselves in surveys. There are at least two major
intentional respondent errors: falsehoods and refusals
• Falsehoods occur when respondents fail to tell the truth in surveys.
They may feel embarrassed, they may want to protect their privacy,
or they may even suspect that the interviewer has a hidden agenda,
such as turning the interview into a sales pitch.

11. • Nonresponse includes failure on the part of a prospective respondent
to take part in the survey, premature termination of the interview,
and refusal to answer specific ques- tions on the questionnaire.

12. UNINTENTIONAL RESPONDENT ERRORS
• An unintentional respondent error occurs whenever a respondent
gives a response that is not valid but that he or she believes is the
truth.
• There are five types of unintentional respondent errors –
i. misunderstanding,
ii. guessing,
iii. attention loss,
iv. Distractions and
v. fatigue.

13. • Respondent misunderstanding occurs when a respondent gives an
answer without comprehending the question and/or the
accompanying instructions. Potential respondent misunderstandings
exist in all surveys.
• A second form of unintentional respondent error is guessing, in which
a respondent gives an answer when he or she is uncertain of its
accuracy.

14. • A third unintentional respondent error, known as attention loss,
occurs when a respondent’s interest in the survey wanes. The typical
respondent is not as excited about the survey as the researcher is,
and some respondents find themselves less and less motivated to
take part in the survey as they work their way through the
questionnaire.
• Fourth, distractions, such as interruptions, may occur while the
questionnaire is being administered.

15. • Fifth, unintentional respondent error can take the form of respondent
fatigue, in which the respondent gets tired of answering questions.

16. Field Data Collection Quality Controls
• CONTROL OF INTENTIONAL FIELDWORKER ERROR
- Supervision consists of administrators overseeing the work of field data
collection workers.
- Validation verifies that the interviewer did the work. This strategy is aimed at
the falsification/cheating problem. There are various ways to validate the
work.

17. • CONTROL OF UNINTENTIONAL FIELDWORKER ERROR
• Unintentional fieldworker errors can be reduced with supervised orientation
sessions and role playing.
• Questionnaire design feature that a researcher can use to reduce intentional
respondent errors.
• With an embarrassing question, the third-person technique may make the
situation less personal.

18. • CONTROL OF UNINTENTIONAL RESPONDENT ERROR
• Ways to combat unintentional respondent error include well-drafted
questionnaire instructions and examples, reversals of scale endpoints, use of
scale endpoints, and use of prompters.
• For example, after describing a 5-point agree–disagree response scale in
which 1 = Strongly agree, 2 = Agree, 3 = Neither agree nor disagree, 4 =
Disagree, and 5 = Strongly disagree
• Guessing may be reduced by alerting respondents to response options such
as “no opinion,” “do not recall,” or “unsure.”

19. • A tactic we described when we discussed the semantic differential is
reversals of scale endpoints, in which instead of putting all of the
negative adjectives on one side and all the positive ones on the other
side, a researcher will switch the positions of a few items.
• Long questionnaires often include prompters, such as “We are almost
finished,” “That was the most difficult section of questions to
answer,” or other statements strategically located to encourage the
respondent to remain on track.

20. How
to
Control
Data
Collection
Errors

21. • A refusal occurs when a potential respondent declines to take part in
the survey. Refusals to participate in surveys are common worldwide.
• A break-off occurs when a respondent reaches a certain point and
then decides not to answer any more questions in the survey. If
respondents are tired, confused, uninterested, or interrupted,
respondents may “break off” in the middle of an interview.
• Item omission is the phrase sometimes used to identify the
percentage of the sample that did not answer a particular question
(prefer not to answer)

22. WHAT IS A COMPLETED INTERVIEW?

23. WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN RAW DATA INSPECTION
• Incomplete Response - An incomplete response is a break-off where
the respondent stops answering in the middle of the questionnaire.
• Nonresponses to Specific Questions (Item Omissions) - For whatever
reason, a respondent sometimes leaves a question blank.
• Yea- or Nay-Saying Patterns - Even when questions are answered,
there can be signs of problems. A yea-saying pattern may be evident
in the form of all “Yes” or “Strongly agree” answers.