Phone Interviews: CATI

Decision Sciences fields telephone surveys from our telephone interviewing center. All telephone scripts are implemented using an advanced CATI ( Computer Automated Telephone Interviewing ) program.  Automated dialing and response accounting maximize completed surveys during the scheduled interview period.

Each attempted call that does not result in a completed interview or an "out of service" is typically re-dialed at least five times. For telephone survey efforts, interviewers call businesses and residences at times which are typically convenient for the customer-type. These strategies maximize the response potential and ensure that the response set will not be biased. 

Survey Information Line
Decision Sciences maintains an 800 number “Survey Information Line” so that respondents who are skeptical about the survey process can call back to ensure credibility. This line also ensures that respondents' questions or comments about the survey itself can be addressed at the time.

Interviewers
Decision Sciences' interviewers are employed based on their telephone survey experience, facility with the CATI system, professionalism and ability to convert refusals to valid respondents. During training, interviewers are instructed on various interviewing techniques such as eliciting compliance, pacing and establishing a rapport with the respondent to ensure successful completion of the questionnaire.

  Decision Sciences maintains the technology necessary to actively monitor each telephone interview as it takes place. This monitoring allows Decision Sciences' supervisors the ability to take any corrective measures should unforeseen problems arise.

Decision Sciences maintains bilingual ( English/Spanish ) interviewers and we have consultant interviewers who speak French, Farsi, Tagalog, Korean, Japanese and various Chinese dialects. 

Data Preparation
Decision Sciences CATI system ensures that the data are entered directly into an electronic database at the time of the interview. Skip pattern and inconsistency checks are programmed into the survey instrument so that keying errors are detected and prevented at the time of data entry.

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