GfK, a leading global market research agency, is working together with the Ghana Market Researchers Association (GHAMRA) to pioneer a major capacity building programme for field interviewers and supervisors in the MR industry in Ghana. GfK, which has already initiated an academic programme on Marketing, Social & Organisational Research with the Central University College, would be providing financ
ial and human resources towards entry-level, practical MR training for field interviewers and supervisors. According to Isaac Gwumah, Executive Director of MSR – which is the agency selected to conduct the training programme on behalf of GfK and GHAMRA – the capacity building programme is a bold attempt at bridging the capacity needs of the industry and will also provide a strong basis for streamlining the quality and ethical standards that are integral to professional fieldwork.
“Although the quality standards for fieldwork in Ghana is probably one of the best across West Africa, there is a strong need to harmonise professional standards for research executives who participate in, and supervise, fieldwork. The official launch of the Ghana Market Research Association (GHAMRA) will provide a strong basis for continuous capacity building for fieldworkers, as well as a platform for ongoing monitoring and evaluation of the professional standards of fieldworkers,” says Mr. Participants will be trained on a number of areas with a heavy tilt towards practical considerations in doing market research in Ghana. The modules will include: the importance of fieldwork; the role of the interviewer; professionalism and quality; types of surveys; different methods of data collection; sampling methods; questionnaire design and completion etc. A pilot of the training programme was done in Q3/Q4 of 2013 with full launch in 2014. The expectation is that about 400 interviewers and 50 supervisors will be trained annually under the programme.
