Bringing fieldworkers together

SAMRA's Fieldworkers Forum has taken a giant leap forward for market research fieldworkers by launching a National Fieldworkers' Database, in a bid to make fieldworkers feel more like an active part of the market research industry.

"At the 1st Annual SAMRA Fieldwork Conference held in September last year, fieldworkers unanimously said that they felt sidelined by the industry," says Fieldworkers Forum chairperson, Vusi Makhathini. "The database will be used for communications purposes only, allowing fieldworkers to finally be kept in the market research loop as far as news on SAMRA events, industry issues and training opportunities are concerned."

Registration on the database is free. Fieldworkers' contact details will be collected (they will not be asked to supply information on which research companies they work for). The database will be kept strictly confidential, and will not be accessible to the general industry, but will only be used by the SAMRA office. "Employers can therefore rest assured that by supplying the names of their fieldworkers, they will not be opening themselves up to wholesale poaching of their staff," says Makhathini.

Research companies, both SAMRA and non-SAMRA members, can submit the names and contact details of their fieldworkers either via email or fax, Tel: 27 11 482-4609. Contact the SAMRA Secretariat, Cathleen Mittner, on Tel: 27 11 482-6440 with queries.