Field Research Associates- What do we do?

Surveys done by universities, development organizations and the like require local presence who facilitate all the needs and wants of the study lead(s). These valiant individuals are field RAs. The field RA, henceforth RA, wears the hats of many, and keeps the study alive by being the eyes, ears, brain and boots of the study lead(s) on the ground. Usually that means doing a lot of tasks that you did not expect yourself to be doing, but you see the need to be involved in it to keep the study rolling. However, based on my own experience and that of my peers, it can be broadly surmised in the following-

I will be glossing over the details of each, but I hope to write more in depth (of at least a few), in separate pieces in the distant future.

1.     Onboarding survey firm + other field staff: One of the first involvements of the RA will be to help the lead(s) recruit a survey/consultancy firm. If the RA is from the country where the study is planned to take place, they will be better informed about the firms who submit a proposal for the study. The RA will help the lead(s) go through the proposals and select a firm. They also work with the lead(s) to recruit any other local staff member that may be required.

a.     Manage deliverables and payments: The RA will also be responsible for ensuring that the survey firm/field staff are submitting the deliverables as stated in their contracts and that they are receiving payments on time.

2.     Questionnaire development and finalization: The RA’s involvement here will be to help the lead(s) finalize the questionnaire. If the survey is a new one, the RA might have to go over literature of similar studies and suggest questions relevant to the context. One important scope of work for the RA is to suggest changes to phrases/wording of questions/options that are contextualized to the country of the study. The RA also works with the survey firm to ensure the questionnaire is properly translated to the local language and that the original meaning of the question still holds. 

3.     CATI/CAPI development and finalization (if an electronic survey): If the survey is done electronically, the RA will either be required to program the e-survey themselves on the medium of choice (SurveyCTO, KoboToolbox, Qualtrics etc) or oversee the survey firm who will do this. The RA will have to “beta test” the e-survey to ensure all the skip patterns and logic function in accordance to the paper version.

4.     Training survey firm: Perhaps one of the most important responsibilities, the RA will have to train the survey firm on the following:

a.     The questionnaire: The RA will sit down with the survey firm to walk them through all the questions and possible answers to ensure there is no gap in the requirement of the study and what they understand of it. Questions may have a certain degree of subjectivity and each enumerator may perceive it differently. The RA is responsible for ensuring the field team knows exactly what the study wants to know from each question. I have a TikTok of this here.

b.     Field protocols: The tone, structure and manner in which a question is asked alters the reception of it and might skew responses. The RA has to train the enumerators on proper field protocols of conducting a survey, do’s and don’ts etc. 

c.      Using a tablet (if an electronic survey): If it is an e-survey, the RA will also have to train the field team in proper use of the tablet and the platform in which the survey will be conducted. This includes how to manage cases, troubleshooting, internet maneuverability, GPS use etc.

5.     Developing High Frequency Checks: The data is only as good as collected. To ensure data quality, the RA needs to program “high frequency checks”. As the name suggests, these are daily data quality indicators that the RA looks at to ensure the data is coming as intended. The RA usually programs it on a statistical software/programming language of choice and exports to Excel/Google Sheets/other visualization software. I have a TikTok on this here.

a.     Flagging data: Using the HFCs, the RA flags data that appears incorrect/troublesome to the survey firm and work together to keep it to a minimum. For eg. a household consuming 10,000 eggs a week. (Maybe a family of powerlifters? We can check in the next step)

6.     Spot-checks & Backchecks: These are exactly as it sounds. The RA accompanies the field team in random field visits to verify whether the field team is being able to conduct the survey as required. These are spot-checks. Back-checks are randomly selected interviews where a separate team of enumerators visit to ensure the previously collected data by the other enumerators are indeed correct.

a.     Develop backcheck assignment code: The RA writes the code to randomly select a subset of finished interviews and assigns it to a separate set of enumerators, aptly named “backcheckers”. For eg., the RA can assign the household of possible powerlifters to a backchecker to verify.

b.     Backcheck analysis: Once the backchecked data comes in, the RA compares the two to check for inconsistencies. If any exist, they flag it to the survey firm.

7.     Overseeing translations of open-ended variables (if there are any): Open-ended variables are questions where the answers are collected as verbatim statements from the respondents in the local language. If there are any, the RA has to ensure that these are translated to English. 

8.     Preliminary data cleaning: Usually the RA will be responsible to go through the raw data that comes in to remove duplicates if they exist, rename and code the variables and other necessary housekeeping. They also regularly check the % of remaining interviews, estimate % of non-responses and if it is a panel survey, the % of attrition.

9.     Data handover: If the data collection+cleaning anxiety have kept you in one piece till now, the RA will be required to handover the data to the lead(s) and other necessary stakeholders. This might be study partners or other RAs that will further clean the data and work on it. This set of RAs is called the Data RAs and is your mortal enemy. Jk.

10.  Policy briefs: After data handover, if the study and role necessitates, the RA helps the lead(s) work with the collected data in producing policy briefs. These are short analytical pieces that are catered to inform policy decisions in the country of the study.

The involvement of the RA in each of the broad tasks I outlined will differ project to project. They may be involved in all, or only a few or even more tasks. There are ad-hoc tasks that arise that you did not foresee but you find it on your plate one fine morning. Seeing the entire pipeline of a survey helps an aspiring researcher understand how to structure a questionnaire, know what questions are difficult to field, and what questions get the correct information you will need when analyzing. 

So, if you are hiring an RA, pay them well because they are an important part of the team. And if you have RA friends, check up on them because they are under a LOT of stress. I personally am at steps 8,9 and 10 right now :) No, I am not well.