Training Packet

Administrative

Typically, general training begins with an overview of the research organization and applicable administrative tasks. Administrative information includes time reporting, assignment logging, and work hour scheduling. The addition of an overview of the research firm provides interviewers with the “big picture” by showing them how they fit into the organization as well as the research process.

The Science of Social Research

The science of social research has come a long way in the past half century. It is imperative that interviewers have an understanding of research ethics and the scientific approach. Most interviewers will not be well versed in these ideas.

The research process begins with project development—that is, what and who are the researchers studying. Depending on the research firm, this could come from an outside client or from within the research organization. The second phase includes the development of the sampling methodology and the instrument (questionnaire) design. The third phase is data collection, which could be computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI), computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI), Web, or some other collection method. Data entry may also be included in this phase depending on the chosen data collection method. The final phase includes data reduction and analysis as well as reporting.

Interviewing

The following outlines important interviewing training topics that should be addressed in the training packet. It is important to note, some of these topics may only be relevant to certain types of interviewing [Page 905]modes, such as CATI or face-to-face (field) interviewing, but most are universally applicable.