Course Prerequisites:
This course is only for Master Moderator Candidates who are enrolled in the Master Moderator Program and have met all other requirements to take the Master Moderator Exam. Contact the Executive Director, Amber Tedesco for approval – 301-770-6456×101
Course Description
Designed for highly experienced moderators and researchers, this 3-day course provides an experiential training environment for students to critically observe and model masterful moderating techniques. Students will have opportunities to critically observe a variety of trained moderators, in person and on tape, view a group conducted by a Master Moderator with consumer respondents, plus get feedback of their own moderating work. In addition to the unique experience of learning special tools and techniques from moderators who are renowned in their specialty areas, students will also learn through collegial sharing and solution-finding of challenges in the current research industry. A review of mastery level qualitative research skills and knowledge will work to prepare participants for the written and practicum examination for RIVA’s Master Moderator Certificate.
After taking this course, graduates will be able to:
• Establish their critical observation of styles of other experienced moderators and apply learning to their own work
• Incorporate feedback on their own style and skills
• Integrate ways fellow researchers have tackled research and project challenges
• Demonstrate techniques for not settling for surface data
• Show alternative techniques to elicit appropriate respondent behavior
• Utilize techniques to gracefully handle challenging respondent situations
• Formulate a benchmark to model their own skills and to use when evaluating other moderators
• Explain a deep understanding of research ethics
• Demonstrate knowledge, understanding of the skills, and ability to lead a QRE session at the level of a RIVA Training Institute Master Moderator.
How Students are Assessed:
Students are expected to attend and participate in all modules, including lectures, practice sessions with fellow students, practice sessions with recruited respondents, and open forums. Trainers use in-depth feedback forms to provide students with individualized, targeted written and oral feedback throughout the class. On the last day of class, students will have the opportunity to demonstrate the implementation of all feedback in a QRE with recruited respondents.