ABSTRACT
The subject of recruitment of respondents for qualitative group discussions or interviews has long been an issue in the UK market research world. Depending on whether one is a research buyer or practitioner, recruitment elicits a range of responses from intense concern about standards of recruitment to lack of interest in issues which have been discussed repeatedly over the past ten years, with no apparent resolution. Feldwick and Winstanley discuss each of these points in turn, critically examining the real contribution of each point to good recruitment. In order to improve relationship between management and recruiters, one of the authors conducted a survey in 1984 amongst the company’s field interviewers to find out motivations underlying choice of this work. Group discussions, particularly, if convened more than once a week, were considered to intrude into the family’s living space, so most attempted to control the acceptance of jobs.
