In a short essay, discuss the fieldwork issues facing researchers conducting international marketing research

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The selection, training, supervision, and evaluation of field workers are critical in international marketing research. Because local fieldwork agencies are unavailable in many countries, it may be necessary to recruit and train local field workers or import trained foreign workers. Using local field workers is preferable, however, since they are familiar with the local language and culture and can create an appropriate climate for the interview and be sensitive to the concerns of the respondents. Extensive training of field workers may be required, and close supervision may be necessary. In many countries, interviewers tend to help respondents with the answers and select households or sampling units based on personal considerations rather than the sampling plan. Also, interviewer cheating may be more of a problem in many foreign countries than in the United States. For these reasons, validation of fieldwork is critical. Proper application of fieldwork procedures can greatly reduce these difficulties and result in consistent and useful findings, as the following example demonstrates.