TY - JOUR A2 - Grypdonck, M. H. F. AU - Squires, Janet E. AU - Hutchinson, Alison M. AU - Bostrom, Anne-Marie AU - Deis, Kelly AU - Norton, Peter G. AU - Cummings, Greta G. AU - Estabrooks, Carole A. PY - 2012 DA - 2012/12/10 TI - A Data Quality Control Program for Computer-Assisted Personal Interviews SP - 303816 VL - 2012 AB - Researchers strive to optimize data quality in order to ensure that study findings are valid and reliable. In this paper, we describe a data quality control program designed to maximize quality of survey data collected using computer-assisted personal interviews. The quality control program comprised three phases: (1) software development, (2) an interviewer quality control protocol, and (3) a data cleaning and processing protocol. To illustrate the value of the program, we assess its use in the Translating Research in Elder Care Study. We utilize data collected annually for two years from computer-assisted personal interviews with 3004 healthcare aides. Data quality was assessed using both survey and process data. Missing data and data errors were minimal. Mean and median values and standard deviations were within acceptable limits. Process data indicated that in only 3.4% and 4.0% of cases was the interviewer unable to conduct interviews in accordance with the details of the program. Interviewers’ perceptions of interview quality also significantly improved between Years 1 and 2. While this data quality control program was demanding in terms of time and resources, we found that the benefits clearly outweighed the effort required to achieve high-quality data. SN - 2090-1429 UR - https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/303816 DO - 10.1155/2012/303816 JF - Nursing Research and Practice PB - Hindawi Publishing Corporation KW - ER -