Assessment of Psychosocial Work Factors and Effects of Perceived Task Load on Questionnaire Error Rate Among Field Interviewers

Abstract

Field interviewers are the backbone of data collection of the market research industry and have a critical role in maintaining good quality research output. To attain good quality output, previous studies suggest that intensive training needs to be complemented by an intrinsic rather than an extrinsic approach. Thus, the main objective of the study is to assess field interviewers’ psychosocial working conditions and determine how perceived task load relates to questionnaire error rates. Overall, the two-phase assessment of field interviewers jointly suggests points for improvement rather than urgent concerns. Results of the assessment done using the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ) with n = 72 respondents recommend adopting flexible leadership styles and autonomy levels for field management. Significant correlations between the NASA Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) raw scores and output quality (as dictated by error rates) also confirm that higher temporal demand, mental demand, and perceived performance are significantly moderately associated to lower output quality; higher frustration level is significantly moderately related to higher output quality. Results of the study particularly recommends adopting flexible leadership and autonomy level towards field interviewers and setting fieldwork timelines that fully consider the capacity of field interviewers.