The Fieldwork Unit

The Institute conducts an average of 70 projects annually that require some extent of field work. Approximately 15 field work coordinators and 150-200 field staff are involved in these projects. Some of the field work is conducted at the Institute, through telephone interviews. The remainder is conducted in the field, through face-to-face interviews and data collection at respondents' homes and other sites.

The field work unit was established in 2000 to coordinate and undertake all field work. The unit is responsible for the planning and collection of data for all of the Institute's studies, and engages in the following activities:

• Field work, including translation and coding of computerized questionnaires, pre-test, telephone and face-to-face interviews as well as questionnaires
• Recruiting, assessing, training, and moving field work staff among the Institute's projects. These staff include field work coordinators, interviewers (for both telephone and face-to-face interviews), and code keypunch operators.
• Training field work coordinators at the Institute, and monitoring and supervising their work.
• Helping to plan and budget the field work for research projects and financially monitoring the progress of field work.
• Developing processes for more efficient field work, based on constant learning from previous projects and developing technologies that facilitate field work.
• Recording field work theory and holding forums about field work, drawing on the extensive knowledge and techniques amassed by the Institute over time.