DIME Analytics has created the SurveyCTO Best Practices to outline the common practices to follow in order to program surveys more efficiently.

The SurveyCTO Best Practices are designed to support the following 4 objectives:

Researchers use Stata in all stages of an impact evaluation (or study), such as sampling, randomizing, monitoring data quality,

De-identification is the process of removing or masking personally identifiable information (PII) in order to reduce the risk that subjects’ identities be connected with data.

Preparing for field data collection involves preparing clear protocols and guidelines for each component of primary data collection using field surveys.

An institutional review board (IRB) is an organization that reviews and approves (or disapproves) any research study involving human subjects. A human subject is any individual about whom the research team collects data through an intervention, or interaction with the individual.

Impact evaluation teams (or research teams) often work with, or have access to, datasets that contain sensitive or personal identifiable information (PII) on individuals.

Back checks are an important tool that allows the research team to verify the quality and validity of survey data.

Computer-Assisted Personal Interviews (CAPI) is a face-to-face data collection method in which the interviewer uses a tablet, mobile phone or a computer to record answers given during the interview.

Quality data is data that is not systematically biased and does not misstate representativeness or coverage. A data quality assurance plan considers everything in data collection that could go wrong ahead of time and makes a plan to preempt these issues.

DIME Analytics has created iefieldkit as a package in Stata to support the process of primary data collection from start to finish.