Wondering how to select a focus group moderator for your offline surveys? You won’t be surprised to learn that the quality of your moderator will impact the success of your project.
If you’ve ever observed a survey moderator in action, you’ll know they’re incredible jugglers. Moderators are adept at the “3 Es” – Encourage, Engage, and Evoke – but they do so much more than that. Close observation reveals that a moderator must balance many roles:
- Make the participants comfortable
- Maintain the discussion’s focus
- Be an excellent listener
- Observe verbal and non-verbal behavior
- Ensure that every respondent participates
- Utilize a variety of methods to elicit objective reactions and subconscious ideas
- Facilitate, not participate
- Create an atmosphere where participants may share with delight
…while simultaneously gathering answers to client questions and gaining fascinating insights!
Every day, reliable data is coming out of Africa. Individuals, businesses, governments, research institutions, and other relevant bodies on the continent have benefited from this data. However, the question of how to poll offline audiences in Africa persists.
While the world is still recovering from the Covid pandemic, which put a stop to physical human contact, Internet connectivity in the continent remains relatively low at 22%. Additionally, there is the issue of epileptic power supply and low literacy rate compared to world averages (AA). As a result of these and other variables, you cannot rely solely on online surveys to poll Africa accurately.
You can conduct offline surveys anywhere in the world -including places with no internet connection or power supply.
Why conduct offline surveys in Africa?
In addition to the obvious benefit of not being reliant on electricity and Internet connectivity, as well as the relatively high level of literacy required for online surveys, other advantages of offline surveys include:
High Response Rate
Because offline surveys often consist of personal interviews, respondents are more likely to participate.
Undoubtedly, the surveyor must have excellent interviewing skills and be able to engage individuals. You can count on Survey54’s professional and experienced field researchers and consumer interviewers to get the job done for you.
Deeper Investigation
The true benefit of offline personal interviews is that you may delve deeper into responses to obtain more comprehensive information. In addition, if you have a question regarding an answer, you can quickly follow up for clarification.
Click to start enjoying quality offline survey data from Africa!
People are constantly eager to express their views! So it is no surprise that field researchers like this survey strategy.
To maximize the potential to delve deeper, ask a qualitative question after a quantitative one. This allows you to understand the respondent’s reasoning behind their response. Sometimes the qualitative answer yields the finest insights.
Improved Observation
Offline surveys are ideal for market researchers conducting live product testing. Capturing data in the “now” lets you observe users’ attitudes and behaviors while using your product.
Observing a respondent’s reaction when they hear, feel, or taste the product provides superior data. In addition, it can validate their responses to your Likert scale question regarding the product or experience rating.
Include a follow-up question following your Likert scale to collect this information. It is also not required to be in an open-text format. For example, you might use the radio button answer options that correspond with the emotional response to eliminate the need to input the response and expedite the process manually.
Do you have moderators across Africa?
Survey54 has a pool of on-the-ground moderators that facilitate surveys for various classes of African respondents.
Our moderators have the experience and resources to administer surveys in both rural and urban African locales.
We have a significant presence in every African nation, so you can rest assured that your survey will be administered by native moderators. These moderators also have expertise in running surveys at an international level. Therefore, you are certain to gain expert perspectives from a member of the society who is familiar with its dynamics.
How Survey54’s moderators survey respondents in rural African settlements
Rural Africans are the most affected by the lack of internet and electricity access, along with the continent’s high illiteracy rate, which impedes online surveys. However, their perspectives are just as valid as anyone else’s, particularly if you intend to collect undiluted data on the continent.
We utilize a mobile research team (moderators) equipped with Ipads and mobile devices to conduct surveys on the go at Survey54. These research teams are strategically located near rural communities and are familiar with their communities. They also interview respondents in their local dialects to avoid misquote of responses. In addition, our technique features per-survey GPRS tracking and timing.
Our moderators are trained and equipped to survey any rural location in the region.
Conduct offline surveys in Africa in these 5 easy steps;
- Script your survey with the assistance of a Survey54 expert.
- Test Survey with our audience.
- The survey is then given to Survey54 field agents.
- Surveys are completed and uploaded when online.
- Results will be available on our dashboard (Excel, SPSS, and PPT).
Tips and Best Practices for conducting offline surveys
Conducting an offline survey doesn’t differ much from creating an online one. With any survey, you must be clear about your goals and objectives in order to collect actionable data. You do not want to exhaust your respondents with irrelevant questions.
Click to start enjoying quality offline survey data from Africa!
However, a few more considerations must be taken into account while designing an offline survey.
a). Keep it concise. If you ask too many questions, your audience may lose interest. If you are running a consumer intercept survey, you should limit its duration to less than five minutes.
b). Keep it simple. Utilize simple, quantitative question formats such as radio buttons and checkboxes. Use open-ended questions sparingly to explore further into answers requiring further investigation, but remember that too many will be time-consuming.
c). Avoid complex logic features. For example, you may employ show/hide logic, but you should avoid page logic and custom scripting, as these features require Internet connectivity.
Need to conduct offline surveys in Africa?
Look no further. Survey54 is here to give you the most satisfactory survey experience and ensure you get reliable data across Africa.
We conduct Focus groups and Video interviews with respondents in rural communities to bring you undiluted and objective data.
We also assist NGOs and businesses in gaining insight into their audiences in Africa and emerging markets. At Survey54, we employ mobile surveys to collect data online and our local field agents to collect data offline in urban and rural communities.
Contact us today for expert guidance on how to make your next offline survey worthwhile.
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