Training field staff

All field staff training must be scheduled using the portal, please use this link to register a training and to seek support on training implementation

Training Field Staff

Training the field staff, which may consist of everyone starting from surveyors to the project associates, is one of the most important thing to do. This is something that would provide a solid foundation to the start of your project if it is done in a well-planned manner. Training for the field staff should be as comprehensive as possible. The best way to plan the training is coming up with a training agenda which gives the timeline on what, when and for how long will which staff be trained on which activity. This method is both time and cost efficient and is being adopted in almost all the research projects under JPAL.

Following the things on which each and every member of the field staff should be trained on: 

• Core session on JPAL SA's policies, values and code of conduct: This is a mandatory session that is delve red by Hansa Parmar (or one of the Survey Coordinators, depending on availability and feasibility). The session runs through standardized content and delivery mechanisms to ensure field staff are made aware of all of key organizational policies, the values and the code of conduct.

• Session on research ethics and consenting in the field: The session should be delivered by a combination of Research Associate, Survey Coordinator and Project Associate (experienced) as per availability and feasibility. Each member of the survey team should be clear on what and when they are supposed to say something when in the field. They should be trained on how to deal with no consents. They should be told that it is very important for the project to keep the no consent to as few as possible. This should ideally be done in the local language in which the survey is going to be conducted.

  • After covering the general aspects of the training as mentioned above, you should move on to the more specialized sections of the training where the different members of the survey team are trained on their respective roles and responsibilities.

  •  All the participants of the training should be provided a training completion certificate once the training is over.

How to prepare for the training of the field staff

Training surveyors and creating a survey manual

All the projects should develop a survey manual that looks like the questionnaire itself with each question clearly explained, and the correct interpretation specified. There could be inclusion and exclusion criteria, definitions of terms, and scenarios for different ways that respondents might react to understand the question. You should include as many scenarios as possible, and explanations of key terms with examples to avoid obvious mistake when the teams are in the field. The survey manual acts as a reference for all instructions communicated to the survey team during the training. Use this document to record all communication on how to administer the questionnaire and interpret questions. The survey manual should be prepared before the training so it acts as a guide for conducting the training. Following this survey manual will also provide a structure to your training program when conducting in-depth session on the survey modules. After the training, you should consider re-printing the manual for surveyors in their own regional language, especially if there were several clarifications made during the training. This re-printed survey manual can also be used in the subsequent re-training(s).

The training session should be led by you regardless of the fact that you have hired your own team or the surveyors belong to the survey company. Supervisors, monitors, field managers, back-checkers play an important role during training and hence it is advisable to hire people who have previous experience in explaining a questionnaire during a training session. In case a survey company has been hired, a training outline should be prepared for each and every individual in agreement with the survey company. The number of days a training session should last depends upon the size of the survey team and the modules in a survey. The number can vary from anywhere between few days to a few months.

Establishing Authority

It is important to establish your authority during the training period. You should be the only one to decide how the questions will be interpreted and the responses categorized. Usually there are long discussions on how to administer a particular question. It is your job to make sure that the final question and the response thereafter helps you in answering the key research question. Make sure that the survey team is not confused and know clearly what they are supposed to ask when in the field.

Training as Screening

The training sessions can also be used as an effective method of screening at a later stage. This is because one gets the chance of studying the staff and making performance-based decisions accordingly. One can judge the trainees based on their leadership skills, punctuality, attentiveness, understanding of the questionnaire etc. It is highly recommended that you train slightly higher of people that you actually need. This allows you to let go  a few who are just not performing well in terms of surveying skills despite lot of practice. 

 Training on the Questionnaire

Following steps should be taken during the training so that questionnaire is understood by everyone:

• Question by question instructions: Go through the sections in the questionnaire one by one, read out the questions and discuss any instructions or clarifications that need to be made. People can take turns in reading the question aloud and you can step in to emphasize on any aspect if need be. All the surveyors should be present when this session takes place.

• Breakout sessions: Here, smaller groups discuss the sections already covered above. A mock session involving surveyors pretending to surveyors and respondents can be held.

• Quizzes and tests: Making the surveyors do spot checks in a poorly filled out survey or giving them scenarios and asking them how they would respond to it etc. is a great measure to get an understanding of the performance of the surveyors as an individual as well as a group.

• Field practice: Here the surveyors have an opportunity to go out on the field and practice the questionnaire with actual respondents. However, it should always be kept in mind that the respondents that are being used are not the part of the survey sample. Field practice is the best time to evaluate the performance of the surveyors and make final selections.

• Notes: Someone should be designated to take notes on the clarification for questions, answers on how to respond to certain scenarios etc.

• Fake launch day: You could also have a fake launch day. The difference between this and the field practice is that no one knows that it is not real. It lets you test the entire system of what an actual day would be like and the problems that could arise. This again should be done on the people who are not a part of your sample.

• End with debrief: Staff should be encouraged to make comments and put up questions which should be immediately addressed by you.

The quality of training delivered is dependent on the content and the delivery, therefore, efforts must be made during the planning of the training porgram. Some of the best training program were the ones where RA, SC and PA collaborated effectivly in paying attention to each and every part of the training. Identify your core team (Supervisors and Field Monitors) and first conduct a short 1-2 day training for them, the training should focus mostly on the expected role from them as well as practicing the instrument thoroughly. 

The main training program should be of adequate length to cover various aspects of training as mentioned above. The core sessions on org policies and COC is conducted by RO followed by other sessions. It is essential to ensure that the delivery of sessions is distributed across RA, PA and SC, at times, one person taking more than 3 sessions per day makes it monotonous for the audience and difficult for person delivering the sessions. As a thumb rule, ensure that same person does not take back to back sessions and not taking more than 3 sessions on a given day. It is therefore advised to come up with a session delivery plan that ensures sessions are well distributed between RA, PA and SC. If needed, some of these sessions can be conducted remotely if planned ahead of time and proper infrastructure. 

Importance of Feedback Sessions

It is also advised to take feedback from the trainees ideally at the end of the training every day. This feedback can be in the form of discussions with trainees. You could also think about developing a feedback tracking tool that can be used to collect the views on the effectiveness and success if the training. This will help you conduct the training for the rest of the days, or any such future training in a better and a more organized and efficient manner. This is also a platform which the staff can used to come up with questions regarding something that they didn’t understand or want more clarification on.

Retraining

If the survey is supposed to take a long period of time, one or more retraining sessions should be included in your schedule. These retraining sessions are much shorter than the initial training. Common trouble areas should be highlighted when the complete group is meeting and revisions should be made accordingly. Circumstances that had not been predicted in the earlier training sessions should be dealt with. Usually, the staff is the one to come up with such scenarios and they should then be discussed in full details so as to avoid any confusion in the field during future surveying.

You can also consider conducting re-training or refresher training for the team members who are not doing very well in the field but have the potential to do so once trained again. A list of such people can be obtained from the senior management of your survey team structure say the monitors or the field managers.

Training Logistics

There will be a need to locate a new venue to accommodate everyone if the office is not big enough. Arrangements for snacks, lunch, tea, coffee etc. need to be made especially during the training periods. A daily allowance should also be paid to the surveyors during the training period. The details of this allowance should be explicitly mentioned in their contracts and be clearly communicated to them at the start of the training. You should also provide an option for food and accommodation for the outstation candidates.

Make sure that you have enough

a. Stationery kits (folder, notepad, pen etc.)

b. Photocopies of the training material

c.  Equipment, if applicable

Estimating all the things that will be needed to conduct a training program and accounting for them at an earlier stage is very important for a smoothly functioning, successful training program.