Field Researchers Quality Control Program (Translated)

An Arabic translation of Interviewer Quality Control Scheme by IQCS, for English readers kindly scroll down till the end of articles to reach the document link

Preface

I previously wrote an article describing the state of fieldwork in the market research industry in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, titled: The Reality of Marketing Research in Saudi Arabia — Field Researchers.

That article sparked wide debate, and I received several messages, ranging from support to disapproval. One of the messages I received argued that constructive criticism describes the situation and proposes solutions, whereas my article had not focused on proposing solutions so much as on characterizing the problems and obstacles. That message lit a spark and a desire in me to search for solutions, until I came across a British association founded back in 1978. This association is mainly concerned with controlling the quality of fieldwork in the market research industry in the United Kingdom, and it has an excellent manual of standards for quality control. I reached out to this association and obtained their approval to translate their standards and publish them under certain conditions.

Conditions for Using the Translated Document

The purpose of this document is to provide guidance. Using or adopting the standards mentioned in it does not result in obtaining any accreditation or recognition from the Interviewer Quality Control Scheme association (IQCS.org). Accordingly, there should be nothing that suggests obtaining accreditation or recognition from this association, nor is it permissible to use or place its logo in promotional materials, price quotations, or any other documents published by the agency or the company requesting the research when adopting the standards contained within it. This association grants accreditation or recognition to companies operating within the United Kingdom, and accreditation is granted based on specific foundations and conditions. Anyone wishing to inquire about this should contact the association directly through their official website, as the usage mechanism mentioned above was stated here at their request, after they had reviewed the translation and permitted the translator to publish it online.

Benefits of These Standards

These standards include many guidelines related to recruiting field researchers and the types of training courses they must receive before conducting interviews, distinguishing between those who interview in the field and others who interview by phone, while maintaining a historical record of their performance levels and supervising them. On the other hand, they cover matters relating to how researchers deal with the people they target, how they introduce themselves, and how they provide assurances confirming that they are conducting research and not a promotional operation to sell some product, and that respondents’ information will be safeguarded. There are also instructions relating to supervisors in terms of recruitment and training, as well as instructions related to recruiters and to the central venues where qualitative research is conducted. Above all of this, there is an aspect concerning the establishment of certain mechanisms for performance evaluation, along with some quality controls related to the field team’s outputs, as well as verifying the effectiveness of recruitment. The manual then turns to mystery shoppers, as well as point-of-sale auditors, and addresses their training and evaluation, and so on.

The manual is very rich in standards and guidelines that would benefit market research agencies in improving their quality controls, and would benefit companies (the parties requesting research services) that outsource the execution of research to a third party such as research agencies — or even those that conduct research internally — by helping them either set certain quality-control conditions within requests for price quotations, or raise the level of quality when they have an internal field team that collects data to serve a particular internal study.

This document can also be of use to government bodies whose work involves conducting field surveys through internal teams working part-time or full-time, including, but not limited to: the General Authority for Statistics, and the General Authority of Meteorology and Environmental Protection.

Accessing the Translated Document

You can access the document — which includes content in Arabic (the translation) and English (the original text according to the latest edition issued by this association up to the date of publishing the translation) — by clicking on the link here.

To reach the Arabic translation of Interviewer Quality Control Scheme, please click here

In Closing

I ask God to make this translation beneficial to you, and to let it be a seed that grows through your efforts toward improving the quality of fieldwork in this industry. And to God belongs the guidance of the way.