Navigating the socio-economic diversity and multi-cultural complexity that defines African populations on the continent can be daunting for any researcher. Without the right partner, one could easily end up with bad quality of data, bleed project resources dry, or even cripple your research success through ethics and compliance risks.
Having a reliable research partner not only helps you surmount these setbacks but also empowers researchers to see “behind corners”, unearthing local nuances that can lend sense to confounding data sets. Having a strong partner is an invaluable asset when managing projects that involve large data sets, covering multiple countries that sample diverse respondent populations.
In our pan-African project experience over the past 15 years, these 3 basic check-list items can help you get started in your search for a competent field services partner on research projects.
1. Local Presence & Network:
Credibility is built on the ground. Verify if a potential service provider has physical offices, local field teams, and/or established networks across the regions you’re targeting. A partner embedded in local communities can navigate logistical hurdles, language nuances, and cultural sensitivities that off-shore firms cannot.
2. Methodological Rigor & Adaptability:
Scrutinize a potential partner’s proposed approach to your brief. Do they employ robust, transparent methodologies validated for specific local contexts? Assess their agility in being able to pivot from urban online surveys to rural face-to-face interviews while maintaining data integrity. While some may possess bench strength in certain areas, it is often the case that methodological rigor without adaptability to dynamically shifting local contexts can be a zero-sum game when it comes to field data collection.
3. Proven Ethical Standards:
Ensure your potential field services partner has a clear, demonstrated commitment to ethical data collection. This includes informed consent processes, data privacy protocols compliant with local regulations, and fair compensation for enumerators and participants. Ethical missteps irreparably damage data quality and brand reputation.
Request case studies from similar projects within your sector and target countries. Past performance is the strongest indicator of future success. A partner with a proven track record in, say, FMCG distribution in Nigeria will deliver more insightful findings than one without that specific experience.
The list is intended to be a guide to getting started. It’s important to further consider other ingredients that make up the recipe for success in research. These include looking into a firm’s capacity to undertake specialized research process such as sampling approaches, respondent recruitment strategies, field teams trainings, tool development support and quantitative and qualitative methodologies based on the goals of the study you intend to execute.
Ultimately, choose a partner who acts not as a mere vendor, but as a local expert guiding your inquiry.
Leave a Reply