Guidance on Systematic Planning Using the Data Quality Objectives Process EPA QA/G-4

For the past several years the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been attempting to streamline and increase the efficiency of field data collection programs, especially Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) Remedial Investigation (RI) programs, by encouraging project managers to develop Data Quality Objectives (DQOs) prior to sampling. The DQO process is a strategic planning approach that is used to prepare for a data collection activity. It provides a systematic procedure for defining the criteria that a data collection design should satisfy, including when to collect samples, where to collect samples, the tolerable level of decision errors for study, and how many samples to collect. It is important to note that DQOs are developed through a process that ties data collection to specific problems and decisions.