Appraisals
Interviewers' performance must be monitored and discussed through regular appraisals. (See section 4.18.1)
Appraisals must be carried out by individuals who are adequately trained and experienced to fulfil this role. (See section 4.18.1)
Appraisal reports must be produced and these must be signed and dated by both the person conducting the appraisal and the person being appraised. (See section 4.18.1)
Interviewers who work on 5 or more projects in a calendar year, must be appraised at least twice in each calendar year. Those who work less frequently must be appraised at least once per year, or as soon as possible thereafter.(See section 4.18.2).
At least once of the appraisals conducted in the year must be conducted face to face, and must include at least one hour accompanying the individual while they work. (See section 4.18.4).
In the case of specialist interviewers, accompaniments can be conducted remotely, by listening to tapes of their interview. In these instances, the company must ensure the individual is seen by a member of staff at least once per year. (See section 4.18.7)
Further appraisals in the same year can be conducted face to face or on the telephone. The Minimum Standards outline the sources of information that must be used. (See section 4.18.5)
Accompaniments at Hall Tests:
- If only one supervisor is present at a hall test, and the interviewing is being done on CAPI, the supervisor may conduct one (but no more than one) accompaniment while running the hall. Any other accompaniments done at the hall must be conducted by a second supervisory person. (See section 4.18.4)
- If interviewing at a hall test is not being done on CAPI, all accompaniments must be undertaken by someone other than the supervisor who is running the hall. (See section 4.18.4)
Validation
All validation must be undertaken by people adequately and appropriately trained and experienced to undertake this role.(See section 4.19.1)
Each interviewer's work must be validated on a regular basis. The company must have a systematic and representative method for selecting and rotating which individual's work is validated when. (See section 4.19.1)
Validation must start within two weeks of the end of fieldwork and be completed within six weeks of the date interviews were conducted. (See section 4.19.1)
Companies must document the number of validation checks attempted and achieved, and keep a summary of results by interviewer. (See section 4.19.1)
If serious problems or discrepancies are found during validation, the company must aim to validate all of that individual's work before their work is used. Significant problems or discrepancies must be reported back to the interviewer and their supervisor. (See section 4.19.3)
Validation can be conducted in a variety of ways (on the phone, face to face, by post, electronic media). Whichever method is used, a minimum of 10% of each survey conducted must be validated. (See sections 4.19.4 & 4.19.5)
The Minimum Standards list a number of issues and questions the validation must seek to verify as a minimum, as and when appropriate. (See section 4.19.4)