Research Field Work

Market Research which involves collecting data direct from consumers, as opposed to secondary, desk, or investigative research

In a market research agency, fieldwork personnel can be full time, part time, or casual. In many cases however they are casual, as the many multi-ethnic and multi-language societies in Asia require fieldworkers of various ages, ethnic backgrounds, presentation and races. Casual staff are usually trained up and experienced in a certain number of general data collection procedures, and given custom training for each project, usually in the form of briefings, role plays, and pre-tests.

Field work can include interviewing in house to house surveys, telephone interviewing, street intercepts or shopping center intercepts, mystery customer or mystery shopper roles, and structured observation.

Market research agencies typically maintain a large casual fieldwork force, while Fieldwork Managers and Fieldwork Supervisors are full time - responsible for field work personnel recruitment, traning, job allocation and performance.