What is a Quality Assurance Project Plan and why does VA SOS need one?
One of the priorities of the Virginia Save Our Stream program is to provide data that can be used by federal, state, and local governments, as well as interested citizens, colleges and universities, and other organizations. Data users will not use data unless it has been collected in a certain manner – with specific quality controls in place. VA SOS wants to be sure that its volunteers collect data in a certain manner – with quality controls in place, so that the data is useful. This “certain manner” is known in scientific terms as a quality assurance project plan (QAPP sometimes referred to as the QA/QC Plan). Quality Assurance generally refers to a broad plan for maintaining quality in all aspects of a program. This plan should describe how you will undertake your monitoring effort: proper documentation of all your procedures, training of volunteers, study design, data management and analysis, and specific quality control measures. Quality Control consists of the steps you will take
