In quantitative market studies, the quality of the data obtained from the sample is unquestionable. These data will be the basis of the study since from them, in subsequent phases of the field, they will be compiled, tabulated, analyzed and presented to the client, so any measure to increase its quality is positive. Clients invest a large amount of resources to obtain reliable and significant data about their market from which decisions, sometimes vital for the company, will be made. The basis of this entire process is field work.
In this post we will talk about the phases of field work and the rigor necessary in each of them to obtain quality data through personal interviews for quantitative market studies.
Based on the objectives of the study, a structured questionnaire is configured that must be easy to interpret for the interviewer and with sufficiently clear questions for the interviewee. Sometimes marketing and research professionals err on the side of using our own jargon in any context that not everyone understands. It is necessary that the interviewee feel comfortable with the language used; This will make you feel safe, relaxed and we will achieve greater empathy and sincerity in the responses.
Once all the general and specific objectives of the estudy through the questionnaire, it is tested. We call this phase piloting where two important points will be measured: the duration of the interview (basic to meet the budgets proposed between the parties) and any anomaly that may arise regarding its instructions (quotas, filters, nature of the questions, etc.).
Most field companies, when conducting personal interviews, program the questionnaire on tablets, notebooks or laptops to facilitate recording the responses to the database. This practice reduces the time needed for the field but requires another control phase: the piloting of the programmed questionnaire. It is necessary to test all the variants of interviewees that we can find to validate all the filters and the correct display in questions of the Conjoint Analysis type, Choice Optimization Board or any question that requires video or audio type support.
The launch of the field requires maximum communication between the parties, especially in its first days. A detailed briefing will sometimes not be enough but will require a face-to-face meeting to be sure that all the points (recruitment, quotas, filters, necessary material, protocol, space where the interviews are held, incentives, timings, key issues for the client) and all the points that are necessary) are clear.
The learning curve for interviewers will go in crescendo as time passes and more interviews are conducted. It is normal for the first interviews to last a little longer than expected. Once the interviewees are familiar with the questions, the work flows and the process speeds up.
Once the machine is well oiled, in operation and begins to produce outputs in the form of responses, the monitoring and validation phase begins. Supervision is carried out in different ways depending on the type of interview. The most common are the presence of the technician at the physical location of the interviews to be able to correct irregularities in real time and telephone supervision after recording the answers in the database. These two practices are not substitutes, but complementary. Hamilton supervises by telephone a 30% of the interviews of the sample of each quantitative study, in addition to being present the first days at the physical place where the interviews are carried out.
There are several reasons why an interview is cancelled: due to the lack of proactivity of the interviewee if we have the opportunity to identify him in real time, due to the observation of inconsistent responses or responses without logical sense.
Once the file is received, other quality controls are carried out based on statistical analyzes whose results could not have been identified in all the previous control phases. In any case, the field work will end when the technician has the necessary case base to meet quotas and perform the analyses.
Obviously each type of study and methodology requires some important key points to take into account, on this occasion we have talked about personal interviews for quantitative studies, however several of these points can be perfectly applied to other methodologies and types of market studies.
Alfons Rotger
