Corruption is a crime in most jurisdictions. As such, it shares the same data collection and methodological problems. Illicit behaviours are generally hidden. Administrative, official data are collected about the response of criminal justice systems and as such cannot provide useful information on the extent of the problem. As in the general crime area, surveys (of general population, businesses and/or special groups of respondents) may provide important insights as regards the prevalence of the phenomena. However, due to the recognized correlation between corruption and a number of governance indicators, there is a proliferation of measures, especially composite indices and rankings of countries. It should be noted that none of the existing measurement tools has proven fully successful in meeting its objective.
Corruption/integrity surveys carried out by UNODC target civil servants and aim at capturing their perceptions and attitudes towards work environment as well as their experiences with crime and corruption. Specific sectoral surveys are conducted within the judiciary and the police. Survey results assist in assessing needs and expectations of officers as regards their relations with the public and job satisfaction, as well as their knowledge of codes of conduct, anti-corruption rules and reporting mechanisms.
Links to corruption/integrity survey reports in selected African countries
http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/Data-for-Africa-publications.html
Nigeria
http://www.unodc.org/documents/corruption/publications_nigeria_assessment.pdf
