Validation

Within survey research, validation has more than one meaning, but this entry focuses on the concept of validating a completed interview, in particular one completed via paper and pencil, as soon as possible after it has been completed—that is, making certain that (a) all questions that should have been asked and answered were done so, and (b) answers that were written in for open-ended questions are legible, understandable, and relevant to the question being asked. The advantages of doing this type of validation as soon as possible after interviews are completed are three-fold. First, it allows for mistakes to be corrected soon after they have been made at a time when an interviewer's memory of the interview is still relatively fresh. Second, especially early in ...