First, the committee must determine if the volunteers can provide the level of data quality required by t he participating organizations. Once the monitoring program is established, the planning committee should meet periodically to evaluate the program, update objectives, and refine the monitoring process. These periodic reviews should help ensure that the volunteer monitoring program will continue to produce high quality and useful data to those who require information concerning the estuary. Many potential users of volunteer data mistakenly believe that only professionally trained scientists can conduct sampling and produce accurate and useful results. Given proper training and supervision, however, dedicated volunteers can collect high quali ty data.
Quality assurance is the overall strategy to ensure high standards throughout the program.
Quality control, on the other hand, encompasses those procedures used during a particular analysis which make that analysis more accurate and pr ecise. Data quality objectives are specific integrated statements and goals developed for each data or information collection activity to ensure that the data are of the required quantity and quality. Accord ing to the needs of the program and data users, the planning committee can establish a tolerable degree of error within the data sets. The planning committee should also closely examine the program budget when forming the data quality objectives. Decisions regarding the ultimate objectives must always strike a balance between the needs of the data users and the fiscal constraints of the program.