Month 1
01 / 05Research team finalising the questionnaire with field input
We review the instrument for field feasibility, program it with skip logic and constraints, and flag questions that will be hard to administer.
Clients · Academic research
Fieldwork that fits a grant timeline, an ethics protocol and a journal's data policy
Bharat Survey is a survey agency for universities and academic research centers running primary data collection in India. Principal investigators keep control of design, instruments and analysis. We program the questionnaire, recruit and train enumerators, run GPS-verified fieldwork with back-checks, and hand over documented data that can go into a replication package. Institutions can also use our app with their own research assistants.
- Instrument programming from your draft
- Enumerator training to your protocol
- Paradata: GPS, time and duration per record
- Codebooks and field reports for replication
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Target outlets
2,184
Visited
1,962
Audited
1,871
Accepted
Daily accepted auditsLast 12 days
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PI-led designEthics protocol followedPre-analysis plan friendlyEnumerator manualsParadata on every recordPanel re-contactReplication packagesHindi and regional instruments
How academic work differs
Commercial fieldwork optimises for speed. Academic fieldwork has to match a registered design, an approved consent script and a data policy, and any deviation needs to be documented.
We treat your protocol as the contract. Enumerators read the consent script as approved by your institutional ethics committee, randomisation or sampling rules are followed exactly, and deviations such as replacements, refusals and unreachable households are logged, not quietly fixed. For health-related studies, we follow ICMR's national ethical guidelines alongside your committee's conditions.
Who does what
Your team owns the research questions, instruments, analysis and publication. We own field logistics, enumerator quality and the integrity of the raw data. The division is written into the agreement so authorship and data ownership are never ambiguous.
What we need from you
- Ethics approval letter
- Final instrument and consent script
- Sampling frame or rules
- Pilot and training dates
- Data handover format
Project cycle
Month 1–2
02 / 05Enumerators practising the consent script in a training session
Training follows your manual, includes mock interviews and a written test, and your team can attend and veto trainees.
Month 2
03 / 05Pilot interviews in villages outside the study sample
The pilot measures duration, catches translation issues and tests the sampling rules before the main round.
Month 2–4
04 / 05Supervisor back-checking a household interview in the field
Daily data reaches your RA with high-frequency checks, and supervisors revisit a share of households with a short verification form.
Month 5
05 / 05Clean dataset and field report shared with the principal investigator
Raw and cleaned data, codebook, instruments in all languages, and a field report on deviations and attrition.
Two models
Before
Full fieldwork
We recruit and manage the team
- Enumerators, supervisors and logistics
- Back-checks and field reports
- Best for multi-district household surveys
- Budget line under data collection
With Bharat Survey
Software for your RAs
Your team collects, our app records
- Offline Android app and web panel
- GPS, time and duration captured
- Best for small or long-running studies
- Seat-based, on quotation
Our position
Study types
Economics and policy
Household surveys and field experiments
Baseline and follow-up rounds for randomised and quasi-experimental studies, with treatment status hidden from enumerators where the design requires.
Panels
Longitudinal re-contact
Tracking respondents across rounds with consented contact details, tracking sheets and attrition reporting by arm.
Social sciences
Mixed-method fieldwork
Structured surveys alongside in-depth interviews and group discussions, with transcripts translated for analysis.
Institutions
Survey app for Universities and Academic Research Centers
The same app can run internal feedback, including student surveys that support NAAC preparation, from one institutional account.
Not the right fit if
- Clinical trials or biological sample collection
- Studies without ethics approval where one is required
- Writing or co-authoring research papers
- Guaranteeing response rates regardless of design
A good fit if
- Household and enterprise surveys across Indian states
- Field experiments with strict protocol adherence
- Panel studies with re-contact
- Documented data for replication packages
FAQ
Straight answers to the questions people ask most about this topic.
Can you work to our IRB or ethics committee protocol?
Yes. We follow the approved consent script, data handling and participant protection conditions, train enumerators on them, and report any protocol deviation to your team promptly so you can inform the committee where required.
Can you program instruments from a Stata or Word draft?
Yes. Share the instrument in the form your team maintains it, with skip rules and constraints marked. We program it, share a test version, and freeze it only after your sign-off, keeping a version history.
Who owns the data?
Your institution or the grant holder, as stated in the agreement. We process data on your instructions, hand over everything collected including paradata, and delete our copies when you instruct us.
How do universities usually procure fieldwork?
Through the institution's purchase or research office rules, often with quotations or a tender depending on value. We provide the documents procurement offices typically ask for and a budget broken down by activity.
India Nationwide, Hindi-first
Share the protocol summary, sample and timeline. We will reply with a field plan and budget breakdown.