Study Design and Logistics - Wetland Techniques - page 33

questions that may arise during a study should be alleviated with an approved
QA/QC program. Quality Assurance is a set of activities designed to ensure that the
development and/or maintenance process is adequate to ensure a system will meet
its objectives. EPA ( 2001 : Appendix B-3) defined Quality Assurance as “an
integrated system of management activities involving planning, implementation,
documentation, assessment, reporting, and quality improvement to ensure that a
process, item, or service is of the type and quality needed and expected by the
client.” Quality Control is the application of procedures to minimize errors during
data collection and analysis. Furthermore, EPA ( 2001 : Appendix B-3) defined
Quality Control as “the overall system of technical activities that measures the
attributes and performance of a process, item, or service against defined standards
to verify that they meet the stated requirements established by the customer;
operational techniques and activities that are used to fulfill requirements for
quality.”
Quality Assurance requires development of a study plan that includes the
objectives, design, and implementation of the study with a stated protocol for
data recording, storage, analysis, and reporting. The study plan should be reviewed
by peers and a biometrician prior to initiation of data collection. The subsequent
study plan becomes a dynamic document that should be updated to account for any
changes throughout the duration of the study. Examples of Quality Control are
stated calibration and maintenance of equipment, training requirements of person-
nel, methodology procedures and protocols, and use of any data generated during
quality control procedures.
Many agencies, private industry, and other organizations require a detailed
QA/QC prior to funding an approved study. However, even if a QA/QC plan is
not a formal requirement, adherence to and occasional review of an informal
QA/QC protocol preserves data integrity. There are countless examples of accept-
able QA/QC plans for the U.S. Federal Government (e.g., EPA 1998 , 2001 , 2008 ;
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ( http://www.fws.gov/aah/PDF/QI-FWS%20AAHP
%20QA%20Program.pdf )), state agencies (e.g., Minnesota and Connecticut http://
files.dnr.state.mn.us/eco/wetlands/nwi_comprehensive_project_plan_021012.pdf ,
http://www.ct.gov/dep/cwp/view.asp?a ¼ 2715&q ¼ 324958&depNav_GID ¼ 1626 ) ,
and private industry (e.g., Integrated Ocean Drilling Program http://www.iodp.
org/qaqc-taskforce/ ) . The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has
developed a Wetlands Quality Assurance Project Plan Guidance (QAPP) to assist
wetland grant recipients documenting the procedural and data requirements for
projects involving environmental measurements ( http://www.epa.gov/region9/qa/
pdfs/WetlandsQAPPGuidance.pdf ) .
The EPA Wetlands QAPP guidance is comprehensive and provides a starting
point for any wetland project. The guidance includes nine sections with a variety of
subjects within each section for consideration prior to embarking on wetland-
related studies. Many of these sections can be useful to most investigators of
wetland ecology, management, and conservation. The Project Description section
includes background information and a justification for the study and includes the
following items: (1) Project Purpose and Problem Definition; (2) Project Area