Tamasheq, we travel far and wide in the quest to ask and answer difficult questions. Data Collection in Tamasheq was quite interesting, it exposed us to a whole new culture and we had gleanings to share
In between the idea and its realization lies the different experience of the researcher. Although every stage in a research project is important, data collection and field-work exercise remain the stage that practically test everything in the design. At this stage, researchers get swamped up helplessly and are unable to progress on the project while the project is considered successful when the data collection and fieldwork yields result of quality data as expected in the design.
Research generally, is a painstaking exercise, but in a foreign country, the odds and challenges are doubled and maybe tripled because of the nature of the data that we require, which is voice data in recorded form. Niger republic is a culturally diverse African country with about eight major ethnic groups, of which the Tamasheq language is one of the local languages spoken by the Tuareg people of the country.
For the Tamasheq voice project, the first challenge was in communication because Hausa and French language were the widely spoken languages in the country. The challenge was surmounted by firstly recruiting an indigene who understands English and could translate to Hausa language or any of their local languages. This was helpful in that it helped to make our first contact with our target respondent. The snowball method was further used to help recruit more people who meet our criteria for the study.
The project no doubt met a lot of skepticism and was creeping in progress before the snowball method was adopted. This was because we were perceived as strangers and could not be trusted. Upon the adoption of the snowball method, we had at least one person who could speak the language and had participated in the study as part of our team. This method increased the reception rate in the subsequent locations that we visited, as we had more than enough target respondent that were willing to participate. This way, everyone who had participated became handy in referring other persons, so there were sometimes about two persons in-between us and our respondent. The process continued until our quota was complete. The incentive also acted as a worthwhile stimulus in convincing the respondent to participate in some location, contrarily the case was different in some location, especially among young people, as some of them were very demanding and having difficult and almost impossible terms.
The Tamasheq voice project field-work experience was an interesting one as its not only tested our research skill but also put our human relation skills to play. There was an instance where our recruiter misinformed our respondent on how much we were giving out as incentive and this almost caused hubbub in that location, we had to pay more for less. On some occasions, we had to deal with rebuffs politely and move on. It required that we treat everyone according to their individuality for the realization of the project, and I am glad that the team has a remarkable accomplishment to show for the exercise.
Challenging as it may be, we had a whole bucket of experiences while at this work destination. We were able to learn some new traditions and get to appreciate what makes the people of Niger Republic different. In all, we achieved our primary purpose; data collection alongside some +1. Overall we are most definitely doing this 100 times and more
What we offer
At Webhaptic Intelligence
- Fieldwork across Africa
- Quantitative Market Research
- Qualitative Market Research
- Consulting
