Chp 6

FIELD PROCEDURES
Kelompok 1
Tolandang, Creysty
Luanmasa Alfin
 Learning Objective
 Introduce the concept of selection of centres for field
work
 Explain the concept of quotas and targets on the field
 Explain how respondents are actually selected
 Explain how the field supervisor controls the field staff
to minimise cheating and nonsampling error
 Describe the need for briefing of the field staff and
debriefing by them
 DESIGN OF FIELD WORK

We are dealing with primary data collection for

most part of this book. Field work is a very
important component of it. In India usually, field
work is done physically by interviewing people at
homes, offices, or on the streets.
 SELECTION OF CITIES/CENTRES

In actual practice, a sample of cities is usually

chosen, or the client’s instructions are followed
(assuming a marketing research agency is doing the
research on behalf of a corporate client).
 ORGANISING FIELD WORK

Once the centres for field work are finalised, it has to be

organised in each of these places. The research
agency may or may not have its own offices in each of the
centres. If it has an office, a field supervisor
from the office is sent a written ‘brief’ and a copy of the
questionnaire, and asked to recruit a field force
and conduct a briefing for them.
 QUOTAS

Most large consumer marketing research studies have

quotas for demographics like age, income, sex of the
respondent. This is because the output has to be
analysed by these characteristics. It is the job of
thefield supervisor to see that these quotas are
achieved. In practice, these quotas are achieved by
selecting residential areas whose resident profile is
known, particularly the income profile.
 SELECTION OF RESPONDENTS

The field supervisor actually leads the

team of field workers on the field, and
instructs them on how to
select a household.
 CONTROL PROCEDURES ON THE FIELD

To ensure that a field worker is doing his job, the

field supervisor can randomly go back to a few
addresses and talk to the respondents to ensure that
they were interviewed accurately. This is known as
a call-back, and is one of the most commonly used
control procedures on the field
 BRIEFING

Before the field workers are sent on the field to do

interviews, they are given a thorough briefing by the
field supervisor. At this time, they generally go through a
couple of mock interviews to ensure that they
understand the questions, the answer categories, and the
sequence. The field workers can also clarify
any doubts they may have regarding the sample selection
process, and the quotas for income, age, or
any other variables.
 DEBRIEFING

After returning from field work on Day One of the study in a

given centre, there is usually a debriefing
session where any problems in the field are discussed, and
solutions found by the supervisor. It may
also be desirable to have a debriefing session at the end of the
survey in a city, to summarise the main
findings, and discuss any special comments or answers given
by respondents in a city. These can be
noted down and sent along with the filled-in questionnaires to
the research executive in-charge of the
study, who may be at the head office or the branch office
where the study originated.
Makasih !!