Systems and Training

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Our facilities include a Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) system running over a LAN in our highly networked offices. This system permits rigorous quality control and, after our interviewers have completed a special interviewer training program, allows them to work faster and more efficiently. Each interviewer also receives additional, project-specific training be fore going on the phones.

Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing

First Market Research employs the Interviewer computer assisted telephone interviewing software for the PC, and has found this system to be powerful, flexible, fully featured, and easy for interviewers to use. The system is LAN-based, providing for centralized management of sample, quotas, and monitoring. Interviewer can also be operated remotely on a portable computer, allowing interviewers to go into the field if required. The system consists of a design module, a run-time questionnaire administration module, as well as several utilities for extracting and analyzing data.

The Interviewer system has programming capabilities to handle the most complex questionnaire. Recall fields allow responses to previous questions to be inserted into the script in subsequent questions. Questions involving lists of items can be randomized to minimize order bias. First Market Research has aggressively taken on challenging CATI projects of all levels of complexity and scale. When we ask our clients for feedback the recurring theme we receive is that we have maintained the same level of responsiveness, timeliness, and quality that has been the basis of our reputation for decades. The Interviewer system automates the task of managing sample, scheduling call-backs, and tracking quotas. Datasets can be extracted at any point during the interviewing process, providing First Market Research with the ability to provide preliminary datasets if management is interested in top-lines at any interim point during the project. Open-ended questions can be coded on the fly after a sufficient level of response is obtained, eliminating the delay for manual coding after data collection is finished.

First Market Research also has a remote monitoring facility which allows clients to dial into our CATI facility and connect to our phone system. You and your colleagues are welcome to monitor select interviews as they are conducted via our remote monitoring system. This would allow you the option of participating in the pretest of the questionnaire from your office.

Networks in our Facility

First Market Research operates a modern telephone research facility with a digital PBX, an automated attendant, an electronic voice mail system, and the LAN-based CATI system. The digital PBX provides for long distance calls via a T1, providing extremely low cost, high quality digital communications direct from our site to the long distance switch. The T1 is programmed to receive both inbound 800 calls as well as outbound long distance traffic on an as-needed basis. The 35 station Novell LAN whose server has mirrored gigabyte hard drives ensures instantaneous backup of all data. In addition, First Market Research maintains a two gigabyte tape backup system, backing up the entire two gigabyte hard drives on the server on a daily basis. The facility consists of 50 phone stations with sound absorbing dividers to ensure privacy and to keep background noise to a minimum.

The interviewing organization is managed by the Director of Operations who is responsible for all project scheduling and staffing. A Senior Supervisor oversees all active projects, coordinating sample distribution and ensuring quality standards are upheld. Project Supervisors oversee the interviewing team assigned to individual projects, briefing the interviewing staff at the onset of the survey, monitoring interviews, and validating completed surveys.

Quality Control

First Market Research pretests all questionnaires for a period of time or number of completed interviews agreed upon with our clients as part of our standard service. During the pretest, research and fielding staff, as well as client representatives, monitor and confirm the correctness of skip patterns, the validity of responses, the degree to which interviewers probe for complete and informative responses to open-ended questions, and the adherence by interviewers to the exact script of the questionnaire. After the questionnaire has passed the pretest, First Market Research continues to control quality by monitoring interviews and validating completed interviews.

First Market Research works with clients to ensure that the percentage of interviews monitored and validated conform to client specifications. Throughout the interviewing process, First Market Research records fielding statistics, including: completion rates, number of calls, number of completed interviews, number of refusals, number of ineligible respondents due to screening criteria, number of messages left, and the number of completed interviews. In addition, First Market Research works with clients to establish a tabulation specification prior to fielding. These tabulations are run after the pretest and at the end of each day of interviewing during the first few days of fielding. These reports are made available to clients. In this manner, First Market Research and our clients can ensure that the data are being collected without sample bias issues, incorrect skip patterns, miscalculation of quotas, or sampling efficiency problems.

Interviewer Training

Prior to official employment at First Market Research each candidate is screened in the following manner:

Pre-Hiring Telephone Interview
Skills Assessment
Communication Skills Test
Typing Skills Test
Computer Skills Test
Reading, Writing, and Spelling Test
Ability to Hear and Follow Directions Test
Application Completion
Personal Interview with Human Resources Director

Following the successful completion of the pre-employment screening each candidate undergoes an introduction to the research process, covering:

First Market Research Mission and Objectives
Brief Review of the Basic Components of Survey Research
Research Design
Sampling
Survey/Questionnaire Construction
Data Collection
Data Coding
Data Processing
Data Analysis

Additional Training

Additional training is specific to conducting the interview, and includes:

Standard Telephone Interview Protocol
Telephone Etiquette
Creating an Interviewing Climate
Opinion and Perceptions of Extreme Importance
Projective Aspects of Attitude
Body Language
Voice Control and Patterning of Voice to Respondent
Methods for Asking Questions
Standardized Approach - Following the Script
Open-Ended Questions
Recording Verbatim Responses - With Exactness
Probing - "Is there anything else?"
The Obnoxious Respondent
Dealing With Rejection
Maintaining Professional Control of the Interview
Working With the Computer
CATI System Overview
Log-In Procedures
Recording of Interviewer and Project Information
Entering Respondent's Answers
"Hot Keys"
Repeat and Review Procedures
Procedures for Reporting Problems
Conducting the Mock Interview
Evaluation and Review

Following the successful completion of training, each new hire begins with less complex surveys. New hires are placed on a probation, during which time their performance is closely monitored and additional on-the- job instruction is provided. After additional experience, First Market Research evaluates the readiness of the staff interviewer for working on more complex surveys and with more sophisticated respondent groups.