A Survey Bias Index Based on Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Imagery to Review the Accuracy of Rural Surveys

Abstract

Field surveys and questionnaires are a cornerstone of rural socioeconomic research, providing invaluable firsthand data regarding on-the-ground situations. However, cost-effective and efficient methods for validating the accuracy of self-reported data in such questionnaires are lacking. Biased data are likely to lead to incorrect conclusions. In this study, we propose a new index, the survey bias index (SBI), for evaluating the degree of survey bias in field surveys. This index was obtained by comparing the data recorded in questionnaires with those from portable unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). In a case study, we employed SBI to reveal the degree of survey bias of questionnaires in field surveys on rural homesteads. The SBI of self-reported areas of rural homesteads reached 0.439, implying that 43.9% of data were significantly different from those collected using UAVs. A greater SBI was obtained in the pre-urban zone (0.515) than in the pure rural zone (0.258). These results indicate that homestead areas in the pre-urban zone have more incentive to expand than those in the pure rural zone. UAV remote sensing can strongly support research in the field of social economy, which reveals key information hidden in field surveys and questionnaires.