Quality information in field research
Training manual on practical communication skills for field researchers and project personnel
Summary
This manual is the outcome of a training process developed at the Kenyan Medical Research Institute (KEMRI)-Wellcome Trust Collaborative Research Programme in Kilifi, Kenya, where multidisciplinary research with a focus on prevention and treatment of severe childhood malaria has been carried out since 1989. The aim was to build on the communication skills of the field workers collecting the data, and thus improve the quality of the information they gathered.
The idea was conceived in 1996, emerging from a growing interest in communication skills among the staff in Kilifi. In 1996, the KEMRI- Wellcome Research Programme had 90 staff, including 31 field workers. In 2004, the programme had 360 staff, including about 110 field workers. The programme has carried out large-scale community-based multidisciplinary research activities, including the establishment and maintenance of a demographic surveillance system, a case-control study on the effectiveness of insecticide-treated bednets, and an intervention study on the effectiveness of training shopkeepers in the appropriate distribution of firstline antimalarials.
The manual by chapter:
- Cover and contents [PDF:492Kb, 8 pages]
- Part I [PDF: 45Kb, 8 pages]
- Part II [PDF: 2.6Mb , 80 pages]
- Part III [PDF: 1.3Mb, 37 pages]