One of the most important issues about having a research team to conduct data collection is having everyone on the same page. Training a team is the best and only way to ensure that all your team members will act as you would once in the field. The goal of training the team is to ensure reliability and validity of the data.
Over the last 12 years I have worked as a team member or manager on over a dozen of research projects from Mexican and American Universities. Based on those experiences I can advise you the following:
1.Choose the team members carefully.
In my experience skills and knowledge can be acquired with practice, but bad attitudes are hard to change. I only employ people that I like because I will have to work with them for several months and no one wants to spend time with someone they don’t like. As a recruiter I look for a good sense of humor and good work ethic.
2.Write a training manual.
This is probably the most time consuming task when training a team, but designing and writing a training manual specifically for each project ensures that you cover all the points that you have to cover. In my perspective writing the manual also allows you to go over every single detail of the training and think about the “what if” before they are present.
The manual should include an introduction to the project, a theory section, each method and instrument in detail, a guide to each piece of equipment and a schedule containing week by week goals.I suggest printing a copy for each team member so that they can do annotations during the training and take it with them during field work.
3.Help the team acquire the skills they need.
All team members should be competent in all the skills needed. The training should be built so that all of the assistants acquire and perfect those skills.
4.Have a long training.
Training should be paid and it should take as long as it is necessary. Trying to be thrifty during the training can be very costly once the assistants are in the field.
5.Go over the smallest, simplest details.
Do not assume people know how to do anything. Once I gave a camera without batteries to an assistant. I provided her with the batteries and requested some pictures of an event that takes place every three years. When we met later that week she told me how the camera was broken and had not turned on. After checking the camera I realized that she had put the batteries on incorrectly.My point is that you have to check every single instrument and piece of equipment ask and ask and demand to see that al assistants are competent in every task.
6.Check inter-rater reliability and validity.
One of the challenges of team work is ensuring data quality. During the training the assistants should have many opportunities to practice all their tasks. Validity and reliability should be checked constantly throughout this process. I like to think of this process as one in which all team members (including me) start to share the same vision of the world.
7.Training is an ongoing process.
Monitor the team constantly once the project has started. Go over any personal, economic and methodological concerns in the weekly meetings. Always be aware that any small problems can hinder your research. I strongly advice on including an extra week in your schedule to make sure you get all the data that you need.