Number of fieldworkers required depends on the timeline of the project and capacity of the project team (number of surveys in the study and the number of fieldwork supervisors available)
Some candidates may drop out at various stages of the process (recruitment, interviews, training and fieldwork). Therefore the project team should recruit, interview and train a larger number of fieldworkers than will be required so that there will be a sufficient number of individuals remaining to conduct surveys
Different contracts should be put in place depending on the project role (i.e. fieldworker, supervisor, manager or data monitor) and their responsibilities (i.e. working hours, remuneration, training bonus, performance bonus)
Fieldworkers and supervisors should
Be motivated, professional and skilled
Have prior experience in fieldwork using CAPI-based techniques
It would be advantageous to live near the project site as some of the work takes place after working hours
There are two main remuneration models that can be utilised for fieldworkers / enumerators:
Fieldworkers are paid per completed and approved survey
An expected average rate is to complete between 5 to 7 surveys a day
Payment per survey is recommended between R37 to R52 to align to StatsSA rates
Fieldworkers are paid per specified time period (daily, weekly, monthly)
The current rate paid by Stats SA for census enumerators is R260 per day
Survey collection is expected to go through an initial slow start up phase, a peak and then a drop off driven by the availability and co-operation of the community. Once most surveys are completed, it normally becomes more difficult to complete the ones that are left. This should be taken into account for remuneration.