We often hear our Market Research friends and peers refer to CATI (telephone interviewing) as very traditional, or often, old fashioned. However, even though these adjectives may not be entirely wrong, they can be quite misleading.
Decades and decades of CATI being used as the go-to method, does not mean it’s still used only out of habit. There are still many situations and research projects where CATI is quite relevant, and honestly, it’s even essential. Human contact remains an invaluable tool to reach the right respondents, guide them through the interview, and collect valuable and reliable data.
Technology in research may continue to evolve and change, but the need for accurate and good quality data does not.
Methodology should follow the research objective
When selecting a data collection method, we should not base our choice on the latest, fastest or most fashionable option. Our selection should always reflect the audience we want to reach, how complex the questionnaire is, and most importantly, towards what kind of decision the results will be used.
For projects which are quite straightforward, or among easily reachable audiences, there’s a wider choice of methodologies that may be a good fit. However, the real challenge comes when we have a target group which is quite specialized, senior, maybe not quite present online or tech savvy, dispersed over a wider geographical area, or just difficult to identify.
This is where CATI comes in as an invaluable piece of the puzzle. With its proactive approach, CATI doesn’t wait for the right respondent to participate in the study and maybe or maybe not fill in the questionnaire. Interviewers call, identify and qualify respondents directly, and guide the respondent to the very end of the questionnaire, aiming for maximum accuracy.
Reaching the right respondent takes more than reaching the right company
In B2B research, finding the right company that fits the target is only the first step. Finding the right respondent is the more important part of the story. Often, the target respondent needs to have a certain position in the company, make decisions or influence them, maybe they need to work with or have specific knowledge of a certain product, or just have direct knowledge on our research topic.
However, experience has shown us that job titles can often vary between organizations or among different markets. The responsibilities or decision making powers we’re looking for may be in different departments than the previous organization, or the right respondent may not be obvious at first.
The best way to fill this gap is to have an experienced interviewer who can manage this process by talking to gate keepers, or confirm the responsibilities and make sure the interview is carried out with the right respondent who meets the required research criteria.
This type of respondent qualification is hard to replace when there’s a specific target that needs to be recognized, especially if they’re of a high commercial importance.
Complex research benefits from human interaction
As previously mentioned, some questionnaires are easier to complete. However, others require a more detailed screening process, maybe specific terminology, or questions that require a more careful approach.
On the phone, the interviewer can consistently guide the respondent throughout the survey, making sure all questions are answered correctly and precisely. They can repeat the questions if needed, clarify with approved definitions, and generally help the respondent throughout the questionnaire without influencing their answers.
This can be quite useful in studies that involve:
- Specialized industries
- Technical products and services
- Public policies
- Financial decision makers
- Customer experience
- Complex organizational structures
The point is, the interviewer does not change the research method into a casual conversation. The interview and interviewing process remain structured, but the respondent is completely supported throughout the procedure.
CATI creates greater visibility during fieldwork
Another point worth mentioning is the level of control CATI provides.
While fielding CATI projects, the whole team can monitor what’s happening and how fieldwork is going, rather than just reviewing the final responses.
It allows you to understand:
- If respondents are being reached
- Are there screening failures and where they’re occurring
- Which quotas are progressing more slowly than others
- If certain questions are causing difficulties
- How interviewers are performing
- Why respondents are refusing to participate
- Whether the project is fielding on specs and the original assumptions are realistic
This way, problems can be identified early. If a project turns out to be more difficult than expected, the team can review performances, check the sample, calling approach, the questionnaire or the entire fieldwork plan, before these issues affect the entire project.
Interviewer quality remains central
CATI is not just making calls and reading questions on a screen. The interviewer is the one who represents the research company as well as the sponsor behind the study. They need to introduce the objective clearly and professionally, gain the respondent’s trust, keep them engaged, and remain neutral throughout the entire interview.
This is especially important when reaching senior/high level professionals, customers of the sponsor, HCPs, policy stakeholders, or even the general public when researching sensitive subjects.
To conclude, the training and professionalism of the interviewers has an undeniable effect on the quality of the data.
The value of a real response
Research is not just about asking questions and collecting the answers. The main goal is to understand whether those answers can be trusted and used.
While the respondent is the one who will give a score, select an option or describe an opinion or experience; in a CATI interview, it is the interviewer who makes sure that the answers come from the right respondent, that they understood the question before answering, and last but not least, that the open ended answers have been captured entirely and clearly.
This is especially valuable in customer satisfaction studies, NPS, brand perception, stakeholder and policy research.
Numbers can show us what the respondents think, but well conducted interviews can help explain why.
Traditional does not mean outdated
CATI indeed has a long history in research, but its longevity should not be mistaken for irrelevance.
Some methods like CATI are still in use as they continue to provide solutions to real research problems.
CATI is still the way to go if a study requires:
- Active respondent identification
- Strong sample and quota control
- Access to specialized or senior audiences
- Consistent explanation of complex questions
- Detailed monitoring during fieldwork
- High quality open ended responses
- A professional and human respondent experience
It may be quite a traditional method, but the fact is that it still continues to evolve through better sample management, stronger quality control, multi-country and multi-lingual operations, and the fusion with mix-mode methods.
To conclude our topic today, the real question is not whether CATI feels contemporary or trendy. It is whether CATI is the right way to reach the right respondents and produce reliable data.
For many studies, it still is.
GDCC’s team supports international CATI and mix-mode studies across B2B targets, customer experience, social and public sector research.
If you’re looking into target respondents who are hard to reach, or studies that require a greater span of control, a direct human contact can make all the difference.