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Survey Administration

vr.wm-act-037 · wm-act-037-survey-administration

Represent a governed survey administration, its sample and collection waves, response outcomes and quality evidence.

World Models Activities and processes ACT.SRVY
Bundle → Layer → Finding → QuestionsClassifiersWhat it isWhy it existsDistinguishing featuresWhat robots and AI may and may not doMoral aspectsOwnersLinks to other meta-modelsIdentity and identifiersDirect propertiesRecognitionCapabilities and actionsHazards and failure modesStandards and interfacesContext of useSources

Bundle → Layer → Finding → Questions Filled

3 bundles · 4 layers · 6 findings · 12 questions

Sample and frame Which units are meant to be surveyed and how they were selected.

Sampling design

The frame, the selection method and the units drawn.

Frame and coverage

The list or source of units and the population it is meant to cover.

  1. Which sampling frame was used, and what reference date does it carry?
  2. Which parts of the target population does the frame miss or duplicate?

Sample selection

The method by which units were selected and their inclusion probabilities.

  1. Which sampling method selected the units, and are selection probabilities recorded?
  2. How many units were drawn in each stratum or group?
Collection waves The fieldwork through which units are contacted and respond.

Fieldwork operation

Modes, periods and contact attempts of each wave.

Wave definition

A collection period with its modes and instrument version.

  1. Which collection period, modes and questionnaire version does this wave use?
  2. Was the instrument changed during the wave, and from which date?

Contact and consent

Attempts to reach units and the consent obtained from respondents.

  1. How many contact attempts were made for this case, and with what outcome?
  2. Was informed consent recorded before the interview began?
Responses and quality What came back and how fit it is for use.

Response outcome

Disposition of each case and the resulting rates.

Case disposition

The final outcome code of each sampled unit.

  1. What is the final disposition of this case: complete, partial, refusal, non-contact or ineligible?
  2. Which response rate definition was applied to the wave?

Quality control

Checks on interviewers, data entry and paradata.

Fieldwork quality

Verification of interviews and detection of falsified or faulty records.

  1. Which interviews were back-checked or verified, and with what result?
  2. Do paradata such as timings or locations indicate anomalies?

Classifiers Filled

Family
World Models
Category
Activities and processes
Entry kind
entity
Navigation path
NAV.ACT.SRVY
Domain
ACT.SRVY
Industry
Cross-industry
Tags
surveyadministrationact.srvy

What it is Filled

Survey administration is the activity of fielding a survey: drawing a sample from a frame, contacting units in one or more collection waves, collecting responses and controlling their quality. It is the operation of collecting data, distinct from the questionnaire instrument it uses and from the dataset or statistics produced afterwards.

In scope

  • Administration identity, authorized purpose and collection protocol
  • Frame snapshot and approved selection references, panel membership and wave bindings
  • Readiness, assigned contacts, participation evidence, response provenance and case dispositions
  • Qualified outcome measures, quality review, closure, authorized handoff and local record continuity

Out of scope

  • Questionnaire content design and instrument master lifecycle
  • Master population registers, person identity, study-wide research design and dataset lifecycle
  • Executable sampling, inferential estimation, weighting, imputation and statistics publication
  • Automatic contact, external system operation and jurisdictional legal-compliance determination

Why it exists Filled

Represent a governed survey administration, its sample and collection waves, response outcomes and quality evidence.

Distinguishing features Filled

  • It is the fielding activity; the questionnaire it uses is a separate instrument with its own versions.
  • Its outputs are responses and paradata, not the published statistics derived from them.
  • It carries a sample design and case dispositions, which a simple form submission lacks.
  • Distinct from a research study, which may contain several survey administrations alongside other methods.

What robots and AI may and may not do Filled

Must not

  • Contact units beyond the frequency or channels allowed by the approved protocol.
  • Record responses from a person who has not given the required consent.
  • Substitute or fabricate responses for non-responding units.
  • Link survey answers to identifiable persons outside the stated purpose.
  • Report response rates without stating the definition used.

Only with a human decision

  • Approving the sample design and the contact protocol before fieldwork.
  • Deciding on action against an interviewer suspected of falsification.
  • Changing the questionnaire version during a running wave.

May

  • Track case dispositions and contact attempts for each sampled unit.
  • Compute response rates under a declared standard definition.
  • Flag cases with paradata anomalies for review.
  • Schedule reminders to sampled units within the approved contact protocol.

Moral aspects Filled

  • Respondents give time and personal information; their consent, confidentiality and burden must be respected.
  • Non-response and coverage gaps can silently bias results against groups that are hard to reach.
  • Interviewers can be pressured into falsifying data when targets outweigh quality controls.

Who is affected

  • Sampled persons and households
  • Interviewers and field staff
  • Users of the resulting statistics
  • Commissioning organisations

Owners Filled

Steward

The survey manager of the commissioning statistics office or research organisation answers for the fieldwork.

Roles

Survey steward
Approve purpose, protocol and administration stewardship
Sampling reviewer
Approve design evidence and resolve allocation or coverage questions
Fieldwork supervisor
Review readiness, assignments, contact exceptions and closure
Authorized collector
Record observed attempts and responses only within assigned scope
Quality reviewer
Assess discrepancies, code mappings and rate limitations
Privacy and records custodian
Authorize recipient views, retention, holds and disposition

Master systems

  • Survey case management systems
  • Sampling frame registers
  • Computer-assisted interviewing systems

Links to other meta-models Filled

references

  • WM-DAT-009 - Candidate registry parent Survey / Questionnaire is used as an external instrument master, not inherited lifecycle. Pin a reviewed compatible revision before operational integration; instrument identity is required in an active wave even when this particular model binding is unavailable.

aligned

  • DDI Lifecycle 3.3 DataCollection - Conceptual alignment to collection, methodology, sampling and instrument references. No complete XML mapping or conformance claim.
  • AAPOR Standard Definitions 10th edition - Candidate disposition and outcome-measure profile; verify full code tables and formulas before computation. No universal rate definition imposed.
  • PROV-O 2013-04-30 - Attribution, association and derivation concepts for evidence continuity; no identity, truth or permission equivalence.

neighbor

  • WM-DAT-009 Survey / Questionnaire - The registry parent candidate becomes a reference to the instrument actually used. An administration is not a questionnaire subtype and cannot own questionnaire authoring or lifecycle.
  • Sampling frame and population masters - Bind a snapshot and selection evidence; do not maintain a replacement population register.
  • Respondent and collection case - A case concerns a selected reporting unit; a respondent can answer as proxy or representative. Restricted identity links are not embedded in public metadata.
  • Study and output dataset - Study goals and produced datasets have independent identity and custodians; this root records collection context and authorized handoff, not statistical inference.

parent

  • WM-DAT-009

What else AI and robots need to interact with it Filled

Identity and identifiers required Filled

  • A survey administration is identified by its survey, wave or round designation and reference period.
  • Each sampled unit carries a case identifier that is separate from any personal identifier.

Direct properties not applicable Not applicable

Not applicable

Survey administration is an organisational activity with no physical properties to measure.

Recognition optional Filled

  • A survey administration has a sample, a collection period, modes of contact and case dispositions.
  • Often confused with the questionnaire, the resulting dataset or a one-off feedback form.

Capabilities and actions required Filled

  • Waves can be opened, paused and closed with recorded dates.
  • Case dispositions can be updated after each contact attempt.
  • Response rates and quality indicators can be computed per wave.

Hazards and failure modes required Filled

  • Re-identification of respondents from detailed answers and paradata.
  • Biased results from undetected coverage error or differential non-response.
  • Falsified interviews entering the dataset unnoticed.

Standards and interfaces required Filled

  • DDI for documenting surveys, instruments and collection events.
  • ISO 20252 for market, opinion and social research processes.
  • AAPOR Standard Definitions for case dispositions and outcome rates.

Context of use required Filled

  • Used by statistics offices, research institutes and market research organisations.
  • Collection from persons falls under data protection law and, for official statistics, under statistical confidentiality rules.

Sources Filled

  1. DDI Lifecycle DataCollection model documentation - DDI Alliance
  2. Statistics Canada Quality Guidelines - Process quality guidelines - Statistics Canada
  3. Statistical Quality Standard B1 - Establishing and Implementing Data Collection Methods - United States Census Bureau
  4. Statistical Quality Standard D3 - Producing Measures and Indicators of Nonsampling Error - United States Census Bureau
  5. Standard Definitions - official overview - American Association for Public Opinion Research
  6. Code of Professional Ethics and Practices - American Association for Public Opinion Research
  7. Chapter 3.4 - Data collection planning and management - Statistics Canada
  8. PROV-O - The PROV Ontology - World Wide Web Consortium
  9. ISO 20252 Market, opinion and social research, including insights and data analytics - Vocabulary and service requirements (ISO)
  10. Standard Definitions: Final Dispositions of Case Codes and Outcome Rates for Surveys (American Association for Public Opinion Research)
  11. Data Documentation Initiative (DDI Alliance)

Open questions

  • Restore independent external review before canonical or publishable-draft promotion.
  • Measure source URLs outside the sandbox, verify versions and licensing, and review full disposition and outcome-rate definitions.
  • Develop adopting legal and methodological profiles and test nested schemas, mappings and fixtures for unknown eligibility, panel attrition, changed instruments, duplicate responses, withdrawal and late corrections.
  • Independent external review is absent; a local no-tools self-audit cannot substitute for independent external review.
  • Direct HTTP checks cannot be performed in this sandbox; browser readings do not prove current source versions or measured response status.
  • Complete disposition code tables, exact rate formulas, institutional thresholds and nonprobability methods require profile-specific review.
  • Nested data schemas, DDI mappings, executable functions, pinned neighbor bindings and adversarial instance fixtures are not implemented.
  • Jurisdictional legal basis, statutory participation, child or proxy safeguards, retention and cross-border rules require qualified profile review.

Machine files

Card as JSON Specification AGENTS.md Source Card backlog vercy.card/1

Provenance

world-models research · reviewable-draft

Built from: models/wm-act-037-survey-administration/spec.yaml, ver-cy/world-models/card-supplements/wm-act-037-survey-administration.json