Table 1. Criteria considered in selecting the Community–based studies.

Criteria	Justification
Number of fieldworkers	Selected studies with more than one FW to be able to cross check information across different respondents, minimise responder bias—the tendency to respond desirably and explore FWs dynamics in a team
Where FWs were based	Studies with community-based FWs selected to
	enable exploration of how social embeddedness of FWs might influence research participation
	Participants would easily understand who FWs are, as opposed to ward-based FWs who may be mistaken for doctors
Amount of interaction with participants	Selected on-going studies with considerable FW-participant interaction to minimise recall bias, and to learn nature of those interactions
	studies involving different amounts of interactions i.e. entire household, vs an individual participants
	studies at different stages of the research cycle as likely to affect nature of interactions
Sensitivity of procedure or information and levels of benefits	sensitivities around study procedures likely to impact on amount of time taken, range of issues FWs encountered, and nature of relationship between FWs and the participants
	selected studies with different study procedures which are considered sensitive (e.g. included blood/nasal swabbing/vaccine)