Within the Total Rewards domain, the HRPA Professional Competency Framework expects HR practitioners to select and interpret market-pricing sources and to understand their methodological strengths and limitations. Conducting in-house surveys provides the greatest control over data quality because HR can define participants, match jobs precisely to internal roles, specify data cuts (e.g., geography, industry, organization size), and validate the methodology, response rates, and aging factors. External sources—industry groups (A), consultants (C), and government agencies (D)—are valuable, but the organization has limited control over job matching, participant mix, and data treatment.

Relevant Framework Reference (HRPA): Total Rewards—market benchmarking and survey-data governance; ensuring validity, reliability, and appropriate application of compensation survey data.