‘Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing,’ or CATI, stands for ‘Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing.’ It’s a type of study in which an interviewer reads a questionnaire on a computer screen before inputting the responses of the participants as they go.
The major benefit of CATI research would be its accuracy, as the software analyses patterns automatically and offers the best possible results for your survey. CATI research programmers, on the other hand, will automatically log all responses for subsequent use, reducing the need for employees to waste time transferring data from paper to digital copies.
CATI research is very essential for conducting global research because respondents that do not have access to a computer but do have access to a phone can be contacted from anywhere in the world. Despite this, CATI can be detrimental to a promotion in some ways, as you must usually avoid discussing some important subjects over the phone, making it difficult to categories your audience.
We have extensive experience conducting global quantitative research via online (CAWI) and telephone at Spade Survey (CATI). We can also conduct quantitative research in a face-to-face setting. Discover more about the methods we utilize.
Benefits of CATI Survey Research
Traditional phone call methods, which use a pen-and-paper system to examine questions and record replies, are enhanced by CATI. Data is securely saved using a CATI application or software, enabling interviewers to concentrate on the interview rather than other tasks such as survey routing. While each piece of CATI software has its own set of benefits, the following are some of the most common:
- Automatically redirects survey based on responses; if a respondent answers "yes" to a specific question, the CATI software will show the correct next question.
- Automatically enters and transfers data to a central system, reducing the need for manual entering data using pen-and-paper questionnaires. This significantly reduces data processing errors and the amount of time it takes to submit information.
- Questionnaires are stored digitally, enabling them to be updated or changed on-the-fly if issues with question wording or skip logic arise.
- Keeps track of survey production statistics such as response rates, completion rates, dropoff rates, and more automatically.
- Allows for remote interviewer monitoring via analytics, including such overall interview length, answered length, and response patterns, which can be automatically put into a quality assurance dashboard and reviewed on a regular basis.
- Provides recordings of conversations that may be examined for data quality control.
- CATI surveys are a good option to face-to-face interviews than some other voice call research methods, such as Interactive Voice Response. This is because they are conducted by an interviewer, allow the interviewer to conduct follow-up questions, and can gather qualitative data through open-ended questions.
Challenges of CATI Survey Research:
When starting on a CATI research study, there are a few challenges to consider. Here are a few of them:
- Interviewers must be trained not only on the specific questionnaire, but also on the CATI software they're using, as each has its own flow and features.
- Interviewers may not notice and administer surveys incorrectly if questionnaires are written incorrectly into the CATI software.
- Open-ended answers must be put into the CATI programme, which can result to transcription errors.
- Depending on the CATI software, it may be difficult to change previous responses because backward navigating is more difficult than it is with pen-and-paper questionnaires.
- While researchers must be aware of these problems, they can be reduced by interviewer training courses and regular script cross-checks, among other quality control measures.
How CATI Research Works:
Phase 1: Concept and Initiation: In this phase, spade survey will meet with the client to discuss the project specifications, perform a feasibility assessment, choose to use a sampling frame and approach, including such random digit dialling, and make a budget based on the targeting, sample size, questionnaire length, and other variables.
Phase 2: Project Definition and Planning: Following that, the spade survey execution team will engage with the client to develop a questionnaire that following best practices for CATI survey design, translate the questionnaire, and provide extensive project-specific interviewer training. Spade survey will run a pilot for some projects to function as a quality inspection first before research goes full production.
Phase 3: Survey Production and Monitoring: The spade survey team is moving a survey into the production phase once the planning phase is completed. Phone numbers are generated or given to interviewers in this phase, and they begin making live calls. Survey data and analytics which indicate interviewer progress are regularly monitored throughout survey production to achieve the maximum outcomes. Call records are also used to include an additional layer of quality assurance.
To assist our clients with their CATI telephone surveys. Do you have any questions about how Spade Survey may help your company with its next telephone survey? Please contact us at +1-(678)-757-5088 or rfq@spadesurvey.com.
