Quality Assurance

Confidentiality & Ethics

Compass Research conducts its business and research in accordance with the European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research (ESOMAR) Guidelines and Code of Conduct.

Training

We appreciate the integrity of any piece of research depends on the quality of the staff who collect and process the information. Compass Research's staff are trained and tested before commencing work in the field. All fieldwork is subject to close supervision and thorough systems of monitoring and quality control.

Standards set by the Australian Market Research Industry's IQCA (Interviewer Quality Control Australia) scheme are employed at Compass Research. The scheme ensures quality in data collection by setting minimum standards for interviewer training, fieldwork management and fieldwork audit/quality control.

All Compass Research Directors began their market research careers with time spent interviewing and processing data. This "grass roots" perspective has been invaluable in formulating an extensive and relevant training program.

All interviewers complete the Compass Research training program covering topics including Who Uses Research, The Research Process, Ethics and Confidentiality, Respondent Recruitment, Sampling and Mapping, Interviewers Techniques - Accuracy, Objectivity and Probing for Answers.

Specialist modules on Coding, Supervision, Field Management, Qualitative Interviewing, Data Analysis and Report Writing are also included In the training program and are offered to staff according to their interest and progress as researchers.

Research Project Specific Training

Before each project begins, a thorough briefing is given on the questionnaire, respondent recruitment and sampling criteria. Interviewers practice the interviews and conduct "live" field testing and are not sent into field until each interviewer has been observed interviewing by a Project Manager or Field Manager.

Interviewers complete call sheets for all contacts made on each project. These are checked during editing against the questionnaires and checked during quality control.

Interviewers' returned questionnaires are checked in front of the interviewer each day and any errors are discussed before the interviewer re-enters the field. Errors are rejected.

Editors are briefed to ensure consistency in editing and acceptance of work.

Research Project Quality Control

Systems for quality control have been modified and refined since 1997 as issues have emerged and solutions found.
Quality control teams are managed separately from the field department. Quality control is conducted on each interviewer's work on a minimum of 25% of questionnaires. Quality control officers check on interviewers in the field, re-visit respondents to ensure correct sampling and screening and to check the validity of key questions.

Callsheet and incidence data is backchecked by revisit.

To assess quality of data entry 25% of each data entry personnel's survey questionnaires are rechecked for accuracy by an independent team or directly by Data Processing Managers.

Additional procedures are employed where necessary, depending on the type of project.

All translations (English-Burmese-English) are back translated 3 times by different and objective individuals before being accepted.

Statistical analysis of individual interviewers questionnaires is performed and all interviewers sign a declaration on each questionnaire administered.

A 4 Stage Process Of Fieldwork Quality Assurance

	Field supervisors witness and live-check of 15% of all interviews conducted
	QC validate further 30% of all interviews conducted by means of in-person re-visit, including queries raised by supervisors / editors
	Computer tables analyze survey results on an interviewer-by-interviewer basis, checking for variance on key questions. Queries are followed up by QC
	Interviewers are randomly selected for 100% audit, evaluating all aspects of interviewing quality. This process is used for interviewer assessment and grading.

Security

Both electronic and hard copy records are stored in secure areas, with access limited to personnel on a need to know basis.