Technology and Strategies for Improving Survey Data Quality and Fieldwork Efficiency in the Global South

In-person household surveys in the Global South face significant challenges. Fieldwork teams often confront violent crime, environmental degradation, and political instability. Such factors compromise data quality as they offer incentives for interviewers to deviate from fieldwork protocols. In collaboration with Dooblo, this webinar presents LAPOP Lab’s algorithm to monitor and improve data quality in 32 AmericasBarometer countries. With the aid of advanced technology, this algorithm flags low-quality interviews in real-time, increasing the reliability of research outcomes and decreasing operational costs.

Objectives:

  1. Identify Quality Challenges: Examine common data quality issues in Latin American and the Caribbean (LAC) public opinion research, including deviation from sampling locations, interviewer impersonation, reading errors, and data fabrication.
  2. Discuss Solutions: Present effective strategies for improving data quality and reducing costs, focusing on predictive quality control and real-time field management.
  3. Showcase Collaboration: Highlight the successful partnership between Dooblo and LAPOP Lab, demonstrating how advanced technology and strategic collaboration can address these challenges.

Methodology:

We will present a comprehensive case study featuring the implementation of solutions to these key challenges at LAPOP’s AmericasBarometer. Key strategies include:

  • Predictive Quality Control: Automated systems that flag suspicious interviews based on predetermined rules, significantly enhancing the efficiency of quality control processes.
  • Real-Time Field Management: Utilizing smart geofencing and real-time data validation to monitor fieldwork progress, ensuring adherence to research protocols.
  • Best practices for Assessing Interview Quality: Utilizing objective metrics to provide a quality score to each interview.

Implementing these solutions resulted in a substantial improvement in research outcomes for the AmericasBarometer survey. These advancements have enhanced the reliability of the data collected and optimized operational efficiency.

This webinar will showcase how leveraging advanced technology and strategic partnerships can transform opinion research in the Global South, addressing core challenges in data quality and fieldwork efficiency. The successful collaboration between LAPOP Lab and Dooblo serves as a model for improving research quality and operational efficiency in complex survey environments.

Our speakers are:

Guy Solomon is the CEO of Dooblo, where together with his team they are dedicated to empowering research organizations with reliable, high-quality data collection technology. Working with over 1,000 research organizations across 120+ countries, Dooblo enhances data integrity and operational excellence for its clients worldwide. Before joining Dooblo, Guy held  multiple leadership roles in research and advisory within the financial services and technology sectors.

 

 

Daniel Montalvo is the Director of Survey Research Operations at the Center for Global Democracy and LAPOP Lab at Vanderbilt University. He oversees data collection for public opinion studies on democracy in 35 countries across the Americas. Daniel developed the Fieldwork Algorithm for LAPOP Control over Survey Operations and Norms (FALCON©) to ensure data quality. Prior to his role at Vanderbilt, he was a faculty member in the Department of Political Science at Universidad San Francisco de Quito.

 

 

 

 

LAPOP Lab is the premier academic institution carrying out surveys of public opinion in the Americas, with over thirty years of experience. As a center for excellence in survey research, LAPOP uses gold-standard approaches and innovative methods to carry out targeted national surveys, conduct impact evaluation studies, and produce reports on individual attitudes, evaluations, and experiences. The AmericasBarometer survey is the only scientifically rigorous comparative survey that covers 34 nations, including all of North, Central, and South America, as well as a significant number of countries in the Caribbean. Each year, it publishes dozens of high-quality academic studies and policy-relevant papers.

Dooblo is a leading provider of survey software, specializing in multimode data collection, including offline capabilities, and fieldwork management solutions. With over 1,000 clients and 200 million completed interviews across more than 200 countries, Dooblo’s SurveyToGo platform supports high-quality surveys, enhancing data accuracy and operational efficiency. Widely used in market research, academic studies, and opinion research, SurveyToGo enables robust, real-time data collection with features like predictive quality control, real-time field management, and flexible data collection modes. These capabilities help researchers achieve reliable data and optimize their survey processes globally.