Multi-Source Administrative-Survey Data Triangulation

In Simple Words

Think of monitoring a patient's health by combining heart rate monitors and blood tests with direct interviews about how they feel. Combining automated medical readings with verbal feedback provides a complete, accurate picture of health rather than relying on either measurement alone.

Research question

Evaluating management interventions relies heavily on self-reported survey data that can suffer from response bias, while administrative payroll and attendance records lack qualitative context regarding floor morale and managerial quality.

Participants

53 garment factories, 1,200 supervisors, and over 90,000 workers in India.

Study Design

Triangulated longitudinal evaluation combining baseline/endline surveys of workers, supervisors, and floor managers with firm administrative records on production, turnover, and vacancies.

Results

Methodological framework integrates daily factory administrative records with individual psychometric and climate surveys; empirical findings forthcoming.

Takeaway

Combine firm administrative records on attendance, vacancies, and line output with structured longitudinal surveys of workers and line managers when evaluating human resource interventions.

Read alongside the research

Plain-English glossary

Original explanations, informed by the references below. Examples are illustrations, not data from the studies above. The research text stays unchanged.

Longitudinal study

A study that checks the same group of people at different times. This lets researchers examine how things change over time.

ExampleResearchers ask the same workers about their wellbeing at the start, after three months and after six months.

NICE · Longitudinal study ↗Read more about longitudinal study →

Baseline

The starting measurements in a study. Researchers use these to compare what participants were like at the start with what happens later.

ExampleBefore a training programme starts, researchers measure workers’ earnings. That first measurement is the baseline.

GET-IT glossary · Baseline characteristics ↗Read more about baseline →

Related findings

• Active Tracking Attrition Mitigation →Methods & evidence

  Dispatching field teams directly to children's homes when they miss school testing operates like a home delivery service tracking down uncollected mail to ensure every package is accounted for.

• Commercial Ad Platform Algorithmic Randomization Imbalance →Methods & evidence

  Allowing a commercial ad algorithm to handle randomization is like letting a profit-driven tournament host pick matching opponents. The platform optimizes for click rates rather than making sure both starting teams are equally balanced.

• Adversarial Non-Stationarity Bounds in Multi-Armed Bandits →Methods & evidence

  Imagine playing a card game where an opponent can secretly alter the deck rules between rounds. If you assume the deck never changes, early luck might trick you into a permanently failing strategy.

• Attanasio Selection-Bias Decomposition Framework →Methods & evidence

  Think of testing a new coaching program on marathon runners. If the coaching motivates slower runners to finish who would otherwise drop out, the average finishing time of all completers might look worse even if the coaching actually made every individual runner faster.