Outsource your data collection in Jamaica
For research firms, donors, ministries and companies that need Jamaican fieldwork done properly and on time, as the prime contractor or as your local partner.
Balcostics Limited, trading as Balcostics Research, takes on survey fieldwork in Jamaica. The company was incorporated in 2011. The office is Unit 10, QVilla Plaza, 7-9 Villa Road, Mandeville, Manchester. We work in all 14 parishes.
You keep the questionnaire's analysis. We run listing, interviewing, supervision and the documented dataset.
What we take on
- Household listing and respondent selection to your sample design.
- Recruitment, training and a pilot for interviewers and supervisors.
- CAPI, CATI and PAPI interviewing.
- Daily supervision, with GPS and timing checks on tablet jobs, and call-backs.
- Cleaning, a codebook, a field report and secure delivery.
- Focus-group logistics and key informant interviews.
Questionnaire programming and data entry sit with the same team. The data management page covers that work. Baseline and endline field teams are on the monitoring and evaluation page.
Deliverables
- The cleaned dataset in the format named in the contract. CSV, SPSS and Stata are the formats we work in day to day.
- A codebook that matches the programmed instrument, including skip logic.
- A field report on coverage, non-response and edits.
- A written disposal date for respondent-level files. We do not keep a private copy of those files past that date.
Weights, where the contract includes them, are support under the project manager. We follow your sample design.
Prime contractor or local partner
Prime field contractor. UNICEF Jamaica, MICS 2022. We recruited and trained more than 60 interviewers, ran the CAPI fieldwork in CSPro, and supervised teams in every parish. Completed interviews were 7,118 households of 7,401 occupied (96.2%). 7,903 dwellings sampled. The MICS case study has the figures in one place.
Local field partner. On the Child Protection Compact we subcontracted to GeoPoll for the 2019 baseline (about 940 interviews, CAPI with some CATI, 6 parishes) and to EnCompass for the endline, which ran from December 2021 to February 2022.
Teaming partner. World Bank Group Enterprise Survey, signed 14 February 2023, CAPI in Jamaica and Barbados. In the same year we carried out CAPI fieldwork in Jamaica for the World Bank Respect Survey. Our role on the Respect Survey was field contractor.
Other completed jobs, with prime and sub marked, are on case studies.
How a survey runs
The same six steps apply to a few hundred interviews and to a national household round.
- Instrument review. Wording, flow and skip logic checked with you.
- CAPI build. Programmed and tested on our devices. We use the myVoice field collector, or CSPro or SurveyCTO when your programme names the tool.
- Train and pilot. Interviewers trained on your instrument, then a pilot before full fieldwork.
- Fieldwork. Daily supervision. On the myVoice field collector, Android devices capture offline and sync later, with GPS at the start and finish, a supervisor flag beyond 500 metres, per-question timing, contact attempts, and random (Kish) selection. Interviewers use it free. The study owner pays 10,000 myVoice points a month.
- Clean and document. Edits, codebook and field report.
- Deliver. Dataset in your format, transferred by the method in the contract.
CAPI and CATI sets out the modes. How we protect respondent data is the standard we work to.
What a quote needs
Email research@balcostics.com or use the quote page. Send the sample size, mode, parishes, timeline and a budget range. We reply with a costed fieldwork plan.
For a fast all-island read, the myVoice panel is a separate product. The panel is not a probability sample.
Questions buyers ask
Who can run a household survey in Jamaica?
Balcostics Limited, trading as Balcostics Research, runs household surveys from Mandeville and has done so since 2011. On UNICEF MICS 2022 we were the prime field contractor in all 14 parishes: 7,118 households completed of 7,401 occupied (96.2%). The sample was 7,903 dwellings. We also work as a local field partner to international firms.
How much does a survey of 1,000 Jamaicans cost?
Indicative 2026 quotation-model figures, from a model dated May 2026, put 1,000 all-island myVoice panel respondents at about J$470,000. Our face-to-face estimate for 1,000 is J$1.8 million to J$2.5 million. The panel is not a probability sample. A firm quote depends on mode, length, parishes and timeline.
Can you work as a subcontractor to an international firm?
Yes. We were the local field partner to GeoPoll on the 2019 Child Protection Compact baseline and to EnCompass on the 2021 endline. We were a teaming partner on the World Bank Group Enterprise Survey, signed 14 February 2023, for CAPI in Jamaica and Barbados.
Which CAPI software do you use?
Our own myVoice field collector, and CSPro or SurveyCTO when the client's programme requires that tool. MICS 2022 was CAPI in CSPro.
How do you protect respondent data?
Encrypted devices, access limited to named people, a confidentiality agreement for every interviewer, and a written disposal date. The fieldwork standard is on our data protection page.
Do you cover every parish?
Yes. All 14 parishes. Training rooms in Kingston and Manchester are available on demand, and we own our CAPI devices. Interviewers and supervisors are an island-wide pool, recruited and trained for the survey.
