Every device we hire out is only as good as the person using it. For this reason, no USARETCO staff member or Research Assistant is sent to the field until they have completed our structured device training and passed a practical competence check.
OUR SIX-STEP TRAINING PROCESS
Foundation in research. Research Assistants first complete the USARETCO Research Assistant online course, which covers research methods, sampling, questionnaire and interview techniques, and research ethics, and leads to a USARETCO Certificate of Participation.
Device orientation. Trainers introduce each of the five devices: setting up, pairing by Bluetooth, charging, language and recording settings, file naming and safe storage.
Hands-on practice. Trainees conduct mock interviews and focus group discussions with the AI translator and recorder, build and test digital questionnaires on the tablets, record GPS waypoints, and transcribe practice recordings with the headset.
Ethics and data protection. Trainees learn to obtain and record informed consent before any recording, to protect respondents' identities, and to handle personal data in line with Tanzania's Personal Data Protection Act, 2022 and the approval conditions of each study.
Competence check. Each trainee must show, in a supervised practical test, that they can use every device correctly and transfer data securely. Only those who pass are deployed.
Field supervision and refresher sessions. Our Directorate of Research supervises Research Assistants during fieldwork, checks data quality daily, and runs refresher sessions whenever devices or software are updated.
FROM FIELD TO FINAL REPORT After data collection, recordings and datasets pass to our professional data analysts, who clean, transcribe, code and analyse them using recognised quantitative and qualitative software. A second analyst reviews every output before the final document is sent to the individual or organisation. Our trainers and analysts are university lecturers and experienced researchers, so the support you receive meets the standard expected of PhD and Master's research.
We warmly invite PhD candidates, Master's students, universities, government institutions, NGOs and private organisations in Tanzania and beyond to work with us.
Twaib Damian Director of Research, Data Analysis and Consultancy Usambara Research Training and Consultancy (USARETCO) P.O. Box 76812, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Email: info@usaretco.com | usambararesearchtraining@gmail.com Phone / WhatsApp: +255 655 523679
