European Social Survey (ESS) Round 10 Fieldwork in Slovakia

The fieldwork organisation has to follow the Round 10 Survey Specification for ESS ERIC Member, Observer and Guest Countries as amended from time to time, which will also be part of the contract. The key tasks are preparing, conducting and monitoring of fieldwork, processing data and preparing deliverables. These tasks include:

• Completing approximately 2,000 hour-long CAPI interviews, using a random sample of dwellings provided by the NCT.
• Visiting and coding final outcomes for a list of 3,801 issued sample units (dwellings) based on the agreed sample design (see Sample Design Summary for details of the sample design).
• Adhering to the rules regarding the form and number of contact attempts as stated in the “Round 10 Survey Specification for ESS ERIC Member, Observer and Guest Countries”.
• Implementing a response maximization plan to deliver the highest possible response rate (target response rate 55%).
• Adhering to the national COVID-19 pandemic regulations and guidelines. ESS ERIC COVID-19 guidelines.
• Adhering to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and national laws. A Data Processing Agreement will be agreed between ESS ERIC (Controller) and the appointed Agency (Processor)
• Discussing the fieldwork procedures, progress and outcomes with the NCT (National Coordinating Team) in every phase.
• Monitoring fieldwork progress closely to allow the NCT to provide at least weekly information to the CST (Core Scientific Team) on fieldwork progress.
• Organizing face-to-face (or online using video-conferencing as a back-up option due to COVID-19) interviewer briefings jointly with the NCT.
• Completing an electronic contact form for every visit to sample units. This will include random selection of one eligible adult for interview from each issued dwelling.
• Conducting face-to-face interviews with CAPI (via Central Survey Tool Suite) in the Slovak and Hungarian language.
• Continually reporting on the fieldwork progress on a case-level basis. Input into interim data checks after a third of fieldwork is complete according to the specification provided by the CST and follow-up on any issues identified by these checks.
• Providing data for other required documents, e.g. fieldwork questionnaire, national technical summary, etc.
• Post-coding the open questions on education and occupation.

The Survey Agency to be appointed must have the following expertise and resources available:

• Minimum of 80 interviewers fluent in the Slovak and/or Hungarian language (maximum workload of 48 sample units per interviewer, excluding reissues) throughout Slovakia. Sampling design is set in Sampling design summary and approved by ESS ERIC Sampling design team. List of 3801 selected particular dwellings (gross sample size) will be provided by NCT.
• Interviewers experienced in face-to-face interviewing. Video interviews (as a back-up option) can be conducted in cases where a face-to-face interview has been refused. This has been introduced due to concerns over the willingness of some groups to take part in a face-to-face survey in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Technical equipment for CAPI (TAPI) – Sufficient numbers of tablets.
• The ability to conduct all the required interviews during the period of 1 February 2021 to 15 August 2021.
• Installing the Central Survey Tool Suite (Main Questionnaire, Contact Form etc.) on mobile devices for interviewers to use it in the fieldwork for respondent selection, recording contact attempts, describing neighbourhood and for conducting the ESS interview.
• Pre-test of 50 cases prior to fieldwork, including video-interviewing.
• Preparing, printing and delivering the Advance letters (3801) and enclosing an unconditional incentive to the value of EUR 5 with each.
• Printing the multiple sets of Showcards for the interviewers (see ESS ERIC COVID-19 guidelines).

Technical Requirements - the technical requirements of interviewer laptops and Android tablets are set out in the tender documentation.