Telephone Surveys

Telephone interviewing is an effective method to:

  • Reach a large number of people in a short time-frame
  • Obtain a broad sample
  • Facilitate additional probing by interviewers

It is also particularly effective for conducting unaided/aided awareness studies.

Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing

Whether telephoning a random or selected sample of respondents, Portland Research Group uses Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) to administer surveys.

CATI is a research tool that enables quota control and monitoring, and produces higher quality data. The system initially randomly selects the individuals to be surveyed and then automatically schedules and reminds interviewers of callbacks. Every telephone interview conforms to the same standards.

  • CATI permits probing for verbatims on any question, minimizes non-response bias and self-selection bias, and always prompts the interviewer to ask the correct question (based on the previous answer given).
  • Information from questions can be inserted into later questions to personalize the interview and produce more accurate and richer data. The system helps interviewers build a rapport with respondents and obtain higher cooperation. Lastly, because responses are immediately logged electronically, quotas and top line results can be checked instantly.
  • Other features include randomizing individual or sets of questions and long lists of ratings. Price points for concepts can also be presented randomly.