Meetings with National Research Coordinators
Regular training meetings were scheduled with National Research Coordinators to ensure that all tasks they needed to undertake in-country were understood and could be cascaded to relevant staff. See Survey Administration for an overview of this process.
The first meeting of SurveyLang and the National Research Coordinators: Krakow 29-31 October 2008.
Participants from 25 countries attended the meeting. The meeting acted as a first briefing and provided National Research Coordinators with a good understanding of the necessary tasks required for the implementation of the survey. SurveyLang gave an overview of the number and range of personnel needed to accomplish these tasks, providing National Research Coordinators with enough information to draw up a budget for the survey and set up teams with the relevant skills and experience.
The following work areas were covered:
- Sampling tasks
- Questionnaire tasks
- Language tests tasks
- Marking tasks
- Wrap-up session (focus on NRC tasks and technical standards)
- Computer-based software system tasks
- Translation tasks
Each session was specifically designed to present an outline of National Research Coordinators’ responsibilities for each of the work areas. A large part of each session was dedicated to discussion and questions to ensure all participants had the opportunity to seek clarification and also share their experiences of working on similar surveys. The sampling, questionnaire and language testing section teams also reported on information and feedback received from different stakeholders, including National Research Coordinators, illustrating how this information was used to inform future developments. A demonstration of Gallup’s WebTrans system in the translation session gave a practical and lively illustration of the more theoretical part of the presentation.
The second meeting of SurveyLang and the National Research Coordinators: Brussels 4-5 June 2009.
National Research Coordinators were provided with practical, rather than theoretical, training. The sessions involved working online on the sampling and translation web-based systems and practising on real tasks. This provided National Research Coordinators with the opportunity to ask SurveyLang experts in sampling and translation any questions that they had and to discuss any country-specific concerns about sampling or translation.
The third meeting of SurveyLang and the National Research Coordinators: Cambridge 12-14 January 2010.
This training session focused on test administration activities both before, during and after the Field Trial. Sessions covered the Testing Tool, data handling, coding and post-Field Trial reviewing procedures, as well as step-by-step guides from the perspective of various project roles. Very positive feedback was received on the usefulness of the training session as well as the atmosphere at the event.
SurveyLang met with representatives from each country to train them in the process for the Marking of Writing for the Field Trial: Paris 11-12 March 2010.
This training was for the Marking of Writing Team Leaders for each test language within each country rather than the NRCs. Sessions introduced markers to the mark scheme, as well as the principles behind it, and opened out into lively and engaging practice sessions.
The fourth meeting of SurveyLang and the National Research Coordinators: Tallinn 28-30 September 2010.
This training session provided feedback on the Field Trial and analysis of results. National Regional Coordinators reflected on their Field Trial experiences and looked ahead to the Main Study with an eye to improving practice and ensuring the Main Study was well prepared.
The fifth meeting of SurveyLang and the National Research Coordinators: Cambridge 6-7 January 2011.
This was the last training session held before the Main Study commenced and so looked at final preparations and key steps leading up to the Main Study. This training also looked at tasks immediately after the administration and NRCs were shown how to enter the data and ask any questions related to data collection and analysis.
SurveyLang met with representatives from each country to train them in the process for the Marking of Writing for the Main Study: Paris 14-15 March 2011.
This training was similar to the sessions held the previous year and trained the Marking of Writing Team Leaders in how to mark Main Study Writing scripts. The aim was to standardise training and to maintain high standards across each of the five languages.