The effects of different approaches to salary survey data analysis on pay curve midpoint values

Abstract

Despite the acceptance of salary survey market data as justification for salary differentials, the whole area of collection, analysis, and interpretation has not been subject to the same scrutiny as hiring practices and testing. Many aspects of surveys have been ignored by researchers. Little can be said about the effects of different formats in the accuracy of data obtained, about ensuring comparability of job matches, about how representative relevant markets surveys are, or about reliability of analysis of survey results. This study has revealed the extent to which individual survey position averages have been obscured by the inclusion of data from different position grades. As a result, different approaches to the analysis of data from the same salary survey have resulted in different pay lines/curves.