Why is the term “field screening” discouraged under Triad?
Although Triad practitioners may use the term “screening analytical method” to refer to methods with certain characteristics (such as more imprecise, not analyte-specific, higher detection limits, and more biased than available fixed lab methods), they avoid the term “field screening” because this term fosters a number of misconceptions in the environmental community. The term “field screening” is rooted in the first-generation data quality model where the rigor of the method was considered the only determinant of data quality. Issues associated with using this term include the following: • “Field screening” implies that analytical data are of screening quality simply by virtue of having been produced in the field. The linkage of “field” with “screening” causes regulators to consider any field-generated data to be unreliable. Perhaps this was justified ten years ago. However, this no longer need be true. With proper QC and planning, modern field analytical technologies can produce data
