Fieldwork is the fourth step in the marketing research process. ⢠It follows problem definition, development of the approach and formulation of the research design. ⢠During this .... Bibliography. Marketing Research: An Applied Orientation, Naresh Malhotra, Pearson. Publications, 6th Edition. BRCM College of Business ...
Fieldwork Mrunal Joshi
Fieldwork • Fieldwork is the fourth step in the marketing research process. • It follows problem definition, development of the approach and formulation of the research design. • During this phase, the fieldworkers make contact with the respondents, administer the questionnaires or observation forms, record the data, and turn in the completed forms for processing. • A personal interviewer administering questionnaires door-to-door, an interviewer intercepting shoppers in a mall, a telephone interviewer calling from a central location, a worker mailing questionnaires from an office, an observer counting customers in a particular section of a store, and others involved in data collection and supervision of the process are all fieldworkers. BRCM College of Business Administration Mrunal Joshi
Fieldwork / Data Collection Process
BRCM College of Business Administration Mrunal Joshi
1. Selection of Fieldworker • Develop Job specification • Decide characteristics required for field worker – match with respondents • General Qualification • • • • • •
Healthy Outgoing Communicative Pleasant appearance Educated Experienced
• Recruit BRCM College of Business Administration Mrunal Joshi
2. Training of Fieldworker all interviewers administer the questionnaire in the same manner so data collected uniformly. • Making the initial contact: cooperation vs. loss of potential respondent (Example) – convince respondent that their participation is important • Asking the question: Art. Do not change the phrasing or order of questions – guidelines for asking questions 1. Be thoroughly familiar with the questionnaire. 2. Ask the questions in the order in which they appear in the questionnaire. 3. Use the exact wording given in the questionnaire. 4. Read each question slowly. 5. Repeat questions that are not understood. 6. Ask every applicable question. 7. Follow instructions and skip patterns, probing carefully. BRCM College of Business Administration Mrunal Joshi
• Probing (motivate, clarify and explain respondent without any bias) • • • • • •
Repeating the question Repeating their response Using pose or silence probe Boosting or reassuring the respondent Eliciting clarification Using objective/neutral question or comments
• Recoding answers (all worker should use same format and conventions) guidelines 1. Record responses during the interview. 2. Use the respondent’s own words. 3. Do not summarize or paraphrase the respondent’s answers. 4. Include everything that pertains to the question objectives. 5. Include all probes and comments. 6. Repeat the response as it is written down.
• Terminating the interview – obtain all the information – record properly – left with a positive feeling – thank the respondent and express appreciation BRCM College of Business Administration Mrunal Joshi
3. Supervision of Fieldworkers • Quality Control and Editing: discuss problems (if any) with the fieldworkers and provide additional training if necessary – if required to changes in questionnaire do it – keep a record of hours worked and expenses • Sampling Control: make sure about strictly following the sampling plan supervisors should keep daily records • Control of Cheating: interviewer may falsify part of an answer to make it acceptable or may fake answers – falsifies the entire questionnaire, merely filling in fake answers without contacting the respondent – proper training, supervision, and validation • Central office control: quality and cost-control – control of tabulation of quota variables, important demographic characteristics, and answers to key variables BRCM College of Business Administration Mrunal Joshi
4. Validation of Field Work • Validation of fieldwork means verifying that the fieldworkers are submitting authentic interviews. • To validate the study, the supervisors call 10 to 25 percent of the respondents to inquire whether the fieldworkers actually conducted the interviews. • The supervisors ask about the length and quality of the interview, reaction to the interviewer, and basic demographic data. • The demographic information is cross-checked against the information reported by the interviewers on the questionnaires. BRCM College of Business Administration Mrunal Joshi
5. Evaluation of Fieldworkers Feedback to fieldworker – make them aware about evaluation criteria • Cost and Time: costs differ by city size – time should be broken down into categories such as actual interviewing, travel, and administration • Response Rates: monitor response rates – corrective action if too low – compare refusal rates of fieldworks – provide immediate feedback • Quality of Interviewing: (1) the appropriateness of the introduction, (2) the precision with which the fieldworker asks questions, (3) the ability to probe in an unbiased manner, (4) the ability to ask sensitive questions, (5) interpersonal skills displayed during the interview, and BRCM College of Business Administration (6) the manner in which the interview is Mrunal terminated Joshi
• Quality of Data: evaluate completed questionnaire – (1) the recorded data are legible; (2) all instructions, including skip patterns, are followed; (3) the answers to unstructured questions are recorded verbatim; (4) the answers to unstructured questions are meaningful and complete enough to be coded; and (5) item nonresponse occurs infrequently
BRCM College of Business Administration Mrunal Joshi
BRCM College of Business Administration Mrunal Joshi
Bibliography Marketing Research: An Applied Orientation, Naresh Malhotra, Pearson Publications, 6th Edition
BRCM College of Business Administration Mrunal Joshi
