Wednesday, May 30, 2007

data collection: fieldwork

data collection, preparation, analysis, and reporting -- Chapter 13 -- fieldwork

Researchers have two major options for collecting data: developing their own organizations or contracting with fieldwork agencies. In either case, data collection and involves the use of a field force. Field workers should be healthy, outgoing, creative, pleasant, educated, and experienced. They should be trained in important aspects of fieldwork, including making the initial contact, asking the questions, probing, recording the answers, and terminating the interview.

Supervision of field workers and involves quality control and editing, sampling control, control of cheating, and central office control. Validation of fieldwork can be accomplished by calling 10 to 25% of those who have been identified as interviewees and inquiring whether the interviews took place. Field workers should be evaluated on the basis of cost and time, response rates, quality of interviewing, and quality of data collection.

The selection, training, supervision, and evaluation of field workers is even more critical in international marketing research, as local fieldwork agencies are not available in many countries. Ethical issues include making the respondents feel comfortable in the data collection process so that their experience is positive. Every effort must be undertaken to ensure that the data is of high quality. The Internet and computers can greatly facilitate and improve the quality of fieldwork.

Probing -- a motivational technique used when asking survey questions to induce the respondents to enlarge on, clarify, or explain their answers and to help the respondents to focus on the specific content of the interview
sampling control -- an aspect of supervision that ensures that the interviewers strictly follow the sampling plan rather than select sampling units based on convenience or accessibility