| Date: |
September 2, 2015 |
| Reports to (Job Title): |
ITC Survey Manager |
| Jobs Reporting (Job Titles): |
N/A |
| Department: |
ITC - Psychology |
Location: |
Waterloo North Campus - Tech Town |
Grade: |
USG 5
21 hours per week - Part-time
Positionis contingent upon funding.
|
Primary Purpose
To perform quality-control checks for global survey questionnaires and to document global survey questionnaires for the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project.
Key Accountabilities:
1. Survey Quality Control
- Rigorously check surveys for errors before they are sent for printing or programming.
- Specifically, generate and review highlighted comparisons with past surveys to ensure questions are comparable over time.
- Generate and review comparisons among the various user-group surveys used for face-to-face interviews to ensure that each question is comparable across groups.
- Perform various manual and semi-automated quality control checks on surveys for complex skip-patterns, formatting of series questions, question order, etc.
- Perform careful and detailed checking of all filters and skips in un-programmed and pre-programmed surveys for all revisions to ensure they are logical and consistent.
- Record any errors or inconsistencies and inform the Survey Manager/ Associates.
- Revise database entries as instructed by the Survey Manager/ Associates; document all changes clearly with rationale.
2. Database Entry and Checking of Surveys and Metadata
- Enter questions, entire surveys, metadata, and documentation notes as required to keep the Survey Management database updated and to assist the Survey Manager/ Associates.
- Enter translations of surveys accurately, reformatting to ITC Survey Database format as necessary.
- Compare database entries for every survey with local-language fieldwork surveys to ensure the accuracy of the database. Where the local language is unknown (usually), check skips, filters, response option coding, and any other hallmarks that are detectable. Alert the Survey Manager/ Associates to any errors.
- Enter details about surveys such as alternate question numbers, table format indicators, field lengths, etc.
- Check variable labels for accuracy and consistency.
3. Maintenance of Non-Database Documentation
- Check fieldwork surveys against the ITC Survey Database to determine whether any errors or changes were made by the country team. Notify the Survey Manager/ Associates of any discrepancies found.
- Where multiple languages are used, check every survey in every language individually.
- Check fieldwork surveys for accuracy of variable names. Where missing or incorrect, annotate with updated variable names.
- Interpret programmed surveys, regardless of coding language, to annotate with variable names and to verify the content of the ITC Survey Database records.
4. Skip Pattern Testing and Training
- Test programmed surveys (i.e. telephone, web) by completing them repeatedly and systematically online to verify every skip and ensure wording is correct.
- Ensure that every question is reached under the specified circumstances.
- Use various online and software testing environments.
- For translated surveys, use question IDs to test the skip patterns and note obvious errors.
- Enter clear and concrete descriptions of issues into the ITC Survey Database; direct these comments
- to the appropriate parties, such as the Survey Manager/ Associates and/or Project Managers and/or external programmers. Update these issues as testing and re-programming proceed, so that a permanent and complete record of all issues is maintained.
- Communicate new and ongoing issues and their resolutions to other testers.
- Monitor the number and seriousness of outstanding issues and keep the Survey Manager/ Associates informed of progress. In particular, inform Survey Manager/ Associates when most issues are resolved and the survey is close to launch-ready.
- Identify the need for external or internal testing support and communicate it to the Survey Manager.
- Train new internal and external survey testers how to proceed systematically in testing; provide forms and instructions. Follow up with new testers and monitor their effectiveness and accuracy. Provide coaching and feedback to new testers. Keep the Survey Manager/ Associates informed of testers’ progress and challenges.
- At the request of the Survey Manager/ Associates, estimate the time (hours, days, weeks) needed to complete testing of a programmed survey.
5. Assist Survey Management Team
- Test new and reworked functions of the ITC Survey Database.
Position Requirements
Education:
Completion of a Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in survey research.
Experience:
2 years’ experience demonstrating competence in a detailed, task-oriented position. Competencies include meticulous attention to detail, ability to focus in a team environment, reliability, strong organizational skills, and communication skills. Familiarity with multiple types of CATI programming, or the ability to quickly learn them, is an important asset. Must have an unusually strong ability to interpret and revise complex skip patterns in surveys.
Other skills and attributes:
- Ability to multi-task and to switch priorities quickly when necessary
- Knowledge of other languages is an asset
- Ability to work quickly and efficiently under pressure
- Ability to be meticulous, organized, and detail-oriented even when the task is repetitive
- Ability to maintain a creative and positive approach under tight timelines
- Strong critical and analytical skills
- Ability to work autonomously but identify when to request leadership support and decisions
- Ability to take direction and employ existing standards to ensure consistency and accuracy in a shared database
- Ability to communicate clearly in person and by email, with Survey Management colleagues, Project Managers, and programmers.
Technical:
| MS Word |
Excel |
PowerPoint |
Other |
| Basic |
Not required |
Not required |
MS Access
CATI programming languages
|
Nature and Scope
Interpersonal Skills:
Internally, communicates with all survey management team members to provide survey quality checking and survey documentation for research initiatives.
Level of Responsibility:
The position is responsible for implementing rigorous quality control checks and formatting the surveys according to ITC standards. Responsible for maintaining non-database survey documentation. In particular, the position is responsible for testing the skip patterns of programmed surveys (i.e. telephone, web, tablet interviews), for maintaining detailed records of issues and their resolutions, for keeping the Survey Manager and Survey Management Associates informed regarding outstanding issues, for determining when all significant issues are resolved, and for training of other testers on an as-needed basis.
Decision-Making Authority:
Responsible for consulting with the Survey Manager and Survey Management Associates to determine workload priorities and for all major survey decisions. Responsible for determining the seriousness of programming issues and when all are resolved. Decision-making is collaborative and has leadership support from the ITC Survey Manager.
Physical and Sensory Demands:
Minimal demands typical of a research position operating within a team-oriented and multi-project office environment.
Working Environment:
Collaborative team environment with requirement for independent work. There are opportunities for meetings and other interactions with co-workers; however, a lot of work is self-driven. The position requires juggling of workload within multiple projects and deadline pressures.
