1. Substitution of the visiting point was only allowed for the following reasons: • refusal by the selected respondent; • empty premises, e.g. no building or occupied structure; • nobody on the stand qualified for the survey; • after three visits were done at different dates and times, and the respondent could still not be found at home; • respondent could not communicate with the interviewer because of the use of a foreign language; or • respondent was not physically/mentally able to be interviewed.
2. The questionnaire was printed in English and Afrikaans and translated during training into other languages used in the local area.
3. The co-ordinalors were trained between 3 and 4 October 1996 by MarkData in the Western Cape, Northern Cape, Free State, KwaZulu/Natal, Mpumalanga, Northern Province, Gauteng and North West. Clients were invited to attend the training session and to give additional information pertaining to their questions.
4. Interviewers were recruited to conduct interviews as close as possible to their own residential area. Preference was given to interviewers with prior interviewing experience. Co-ordinators were responsible for the recruitment of the interviewers. All interviewers had to comply with the following minimum requirements: • a matric educational qualification or equivalent; and • fully bilingual or multilingual in order to speak the relevant language in a particular fieldwork area.
5. The co-ordinator's responsibility was to ensure that all the questionnaires sent to Mark Data had already been checked for correct completion and that 20 per cent field control was done. From the office, a 20 per cent fieldwork control (back check) was done once again on each interviewer's questionnaires. The co-ordinators also supervised the fieldwork process to ensure that the correct procedure was maintained. Details of the fieldwork progress were communicated to Mark Data on a regular basis.