Fieldwork monitoring in the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE)

Abstract

"The article summarizes how monitoring of fieldwork was conducted in the fourth wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) by using the conceptual framework of total survey error as a guiding principle. I describe the technological and governance-related background of monitoring and managing fieldwork in a tiered principal-agent environment of a cross-national, longitudinal survey operation. Findings on selected indicators are presented as they were utilized in fortnightly reports to contracted survey agencies during the entire data collection period. Reporting was intended to stimulate corrective action by contracted for-profit survey businesses. I summarize our experience of trying to influence an on-going cross-cultural data collection operation and discuss implications for survey management with an emphasis on multi-national surveys.