Survey tools for assessing service delivery

Abstract

This paper argues that micro-level tools are necessary to assess both the quality and quantity of services, and the complexities involved in transforming budgets into goods and services. Public Expenditure Tracking Surveys (PETS) and Quantitative Service Delivery Surveys (QSDS) have been developed in full recognition of the characteristics of public organizations, and with the specific objectives of identifying where service delivery problems arise, quantifying the relative importance, discovering how and why they arise, and devising means of resolving them. PETS and QSDS gather quantitative data on a sample survey basis, including inputs, outputs, and other characteristics, directly from the service-providing unit. PETS assess (often diagnostically) the issue of leakage of public funds or resources prior to reaching the intended beneficiary. QSDS take a service-facility-based approach to assessing incentives for facility level staff to produce high-quality services, and provide a measure for efficiency at the level of the frontline provider and information about determinants. This paper is intended to guide those who wish to undertake the PETS/QSDS. The paper is organized as follows. Section 2 outlines the motivation for developing PETS and QSDS, namely the persistent failure to observe close relationships between public sector spending and outcomes. Section 3 discusses general features of public service agencies that provide public services and some reasons why information on performance is not easy to obtain. Section 4 summarizes key features and potential uses of PETS and QSDS, including a comparison with other tools for public expenditure and service delivery analysis. In section 5, we highlight key lessons learned through implementing these surveys and provide det...